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Sheep's Kidneys, Broiled
Cut the kidneys in half lengthwise. Skin them, score them a little, sprinkle salt and cayenne over them, dip them in clarified butter, and run a skewer through them to keep them from curling on the gridiron. Broil over a clear fire. Take out the skewers, and serve the kidneys on a hot dish with the hollow part uppermost. Garnish the dish with parsley. Time to broil the kidneys, eight to twelve minutes, according to size. Probable cost, 4d. to 6d. each (see MUTTON KIDNEYS).
A straightforward grill that modern cooks tend to overcook. The whole point of the skewer and the halving is to get a flat, fast-cooking piece of offal that stays juicy.
- Don't cut all the way through"Cut in half lengthwise" was often done as a butterfly rather than a clean separation: split through the rounded side and open the kidney flat so the concave inner side becomes the hollow that faces up on the plate. Cassell's does not say which is meant, though the skewer and the hollow-side-up serving both suit the butterflied form.
- Skin and corePeel off the thin outer membrane, which shrinks hard on the grill, and snip out the white fatty core at the hinge with scissors. Cassell's says only "skin them," but leaving the core in gives a chewy, ammoniac centre.
- TimingEight to twelve minutes was written for a fire that had to be judged by hand. Under a modern gas or electric broiler at full heat, or on a ridged pan over high heat, halved lamb kidneys need roughly two to three minutes a side and should stay faintly rosy inside. Cooked through to grey, they turn granular and bitter.
- GridironA gridiron is a metal grate set over live coals, so the heat comes from below. Use a cast-iron grill pan or the broiler with the pan close to the element; either reproduces the fast, dry, direct heat the recipe assumes.
- Score lightlyA few shallow slashes on the cut face help the butter and seasoning catch and keep the surface from tightening. Deep cuts let the juices out, which is the one thing you cannot get back.
- Clarified butterButter with the milk solids removed, so it will take grill heat without blackening. Melt unsalted butter gently, skim the foam, and pour off the clear fat, leaving the milky residue behind. Ghee works as bought.
- SkewersMetal skewers, threaded crosswise through both flaps, keep the kidney flat. Two thin skewers per kidney are steadier than one. Soak wooden ones first if that is all you have.
- What "sheep's kidneys" means nowButchers sell these as lamb kidneys, and modern lamb kidneys are smaller and milder than the mature mutton kidneys Cassell's cross-references. Allow two to three per person as a first course or breakfast dish, four for a main.
- CostFourpence to sixpence each was a pre-decimal price. Kidneys remain cheap today relative to muscle cuts; what that sum represented in a Victorian household budget is harder to judge from the entry alone.
Broiled kidneys belong to the Victorian and Edwardian breakfast sideboard, where they sat in a chafing dish alongside bacon, devilled bones and kedgeree, and to the men's clubs and chophouses that served them on toast with a lump of maitre d'hotel butter. Kidneys were among the more perishable parts of the carcass and were generally cooked fast and eaten fresh. The method here, split, seasoned sharply with cayenne, skewered flat and grilled over coals, is close to earlier English practice; "devilled" was the name given to dishes treated with similarly hot seasoning such as cayenne, mustard or pepper. Serving hollow side up looks practical as much as decorative: the cup holds the juices that would otherwise run into the dish.