Kidneys, Stewed
INGREDIENTS for dish for 4 to 6 persons. About 6 kidneys, a large dessertspoonful of chopped herbs, 2 oz. of butter, 1 dessertspoonful of flour, a little gravy, juice of 1/2 a lemon, a teaspoonful of Harvey's sauce and mushroom ketchup, cayenne and salt to taste. AVERAGE COST, 1s. 10d. About 6 kidneys, a large dessertspoonful of chopped herbs, 2 oz. of butter, 1 dessertspoonful of flour, a little gravy, juice of 1/2 a lemon, a teaspoonful of Harvey's sauce and mushroom ketchup, cayenne and salt to taste. AVERAGE COST, 1s. 10d.
Divide the kidneys in halves and strew the herbs, with cayenne and salt over them; melt the butter in the frying-pan, put in the kidneys and brown them nicely all round; when nearly done, stir in the flour and shake them well; now add the gravy and sauce and stew them for a few minutes, then turn them out into an entrée dish garnished with fried croûtons. TIME.-10 or 12 minutes.
SEASONABLE at any time.
A quick pan dish rather than a true stew, and the whole thing stands or falls on not overcooking the kidneys. Beeton's ten to twelve minutes is for the pan, not the plate — treat it as an upper limit.
- Which kidneysSix kidneys for four to six people means lamb's kidneys, about 2 oz each; ox or veal kidney would be sold by weight and cut up. Lamb's kidneys are still the right choice, from a butcher rather than a supermarket counter.
- Preparation the recipe assumes"Divide the kidneys in halves" leaves out the skinning and coring a Victorian cook took for granted. Peel off the membrane and snip out the white gristly core with scissors, or the halves will curl and toughen in the pan.
- The hinge: brief cookingKidney goes from tender to rubbery in under a minute. Brown the halves hard for two to three minutes a side, then let them finish in the sauce only long enough for it to thicken; the centres should stay faintly pink.
- Harvey's sauceA spiced anchovy-and-soy condiment sold commercially through the nineteenth century and now effectively gone. Worcestershire sauce is the nearest surviving relative and can be used measure for measure.
- Mushroom ketchupNot a tomato product but a thin, dark, salty mushroom liquor. Still made by a few British firms; otherwise a spoonful of soy plus a little mushroom soaking liquid gets close.
- "A little gravy"Genuinely vague — in Beeton's kitchen it meant whatever brown stock was standing by. Around 150 ml (2/3 cup) of beef or veal stock gives a sauce that coats without drowning the kidneys.
- Spoon sizesA Victorian dessertspoon is roughly 2 teaspoons, so the flour comes to about 2 teaspoons; the herbs, specified as a *large* dessertspoonful, somewhat more. Parsley with a little thyme would suit.
- Croûtons and the entrée dishAn entrée dish is a shallow covered serving dish; any warmed platter does. The croûtons are triangles of bread fried in butter, set round the edge to soak up the sauce.
- The cost line1s 10d is the book's own estimate for a dish serving four to six, a modest price for a meat dish in the 1860s.
Kidneys belonged to the British breakfast sideboard and the light supper table long before they were an economy measure — devilled, grilled or, as here, browned and finished in a sharp brown sauce. The seasoning tells the period plainly: Harvey's sauce, mushroom ketchup and lemon juice were among the bottled sharpeners of a Victorian larder, the first two descended from the anchovy, walnut and mushroom liquors that English cooks had been keeping since the eighteenth century, and doing much the job that a splash of Worcestershire does now. Calling the dish "stewed" is a little generous; the stewing is a few minutes in the pan, and the recipe sits with the other quick entrées meant to fill out a course without much labour or expense. Beeton marks it "seasonable at any time" — that is, the ingredient could be had year round.