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Kidneys Fried
After plunging in boiling water, cut them in thin slices and fry in hot butter; add pepper, salt, and toss them for a few minutes in rich brown gravy.--Mrs. M.
A breakfast dish compressed into two lines. The whole success of it rests on speed: kidney turns from tender to rubbery in under a minute of overcooking.
- Which kidneyThe recipe never says. A fried breakfast dish of this kind would most likely have used lamb or mutton kidneys, possibly veal; beef kidney is much stronger and coarser and suits this treatment less well. Two lamb kidneys per person is a reasonable modern allowance.
- The coreThe recipe omits this step. Halve each kidney and cut out the white fatty core and any tubes before slicing, or the finished dish will be chewy and taste faintly of ammonia.
- "Plunging in boiling water"A brief scald, to firm the surface and draw off some of the strong flavour; the recipe gives no time. Drain and dry the slices thoroughly before they meet the butter, or they will steam rather than brown.
- Cook them fastThin slices in properly hot butter need about a minute a side. They should stay pink at the centre. Kidney held over heat past that point tightens and goes to rubber, and no gravy will bring it back.
- "Rich brown gravy"Most likely a brown sauce already made and standing by, from roast drippings or a stock-based roux, rather than something built in the pan. The recipe says to toss the slices in it for a few minutes; keeping the gravy barely warm rather than simmering will help the kidney stay tender.
- Yield and servingThe recipe gives no quantity; the yield depends entirely on how many kidneys are used. Toast is a common accompaniment for fried kidneys, though this entry does not specify one.
Kidneys at breakfast were standard across the English-speaking world in the nineteenth century, and the Virginia table shared the habit with British practice, where devilled and fried kidneys sat alongside bacon and chops on the sideboard. Housekeeping in Old Virginia, compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree and published in 1878, gathered contributions from named Virginia housekeepers, which is why this entry ends with an initialled attribution rather than an author's byline. The extreme brevity is characteristic of the book: it was written for women who already knew how to core a kidney and keep brown gravy on hand, and who needed only the outline. The practice of using every part of a slaughtered animal was general in a period when household butchery was still common.