No. 1526

Veal Kidneys with Marrow

Rognons de Veau a la Moelle

Split a fine veal kidney through its widest part, pare, and suppress the fat and fibers, then season; run a skewer through the length, coat over with melted butter, roll in bread-crumbs, and broil over a slow fire; dress and cover with slices of blanched beef marrow, pour a Colbert sauce (No. 451) over, and serve very hot.

← No. 1525 Veal Kidneys a la Roederer Veal No. 1527 Veal Kidneys with White Wine →

For the Modern Kitchen

A one-line broiling recipe from Ranhofer that assumes you can buy a whole veal kidney, a length of beef marrow bone and a pot of Colbert sauce without thinking about it. Most of the modern work is sourcing and heat control.

The hinge: slow fire, short timeVeal kidney turns grainy and bitter the moment it goes past pink. Broil over moderate, not fierce, heat — a split kidney of about 8-10 oz wants roughly 4-5 minutes a side and should still be rosy at the centre. "Slow fire" here means the crumbs brown at the same rate the interior cooks, not a long bake.
SourcingVeal kidney is a special order from a butcher in most places; lamb kidneys are the usual substitute, though they are smaller and stronger. One veal kidney serves two as a course, or one generously.
Paring"Suppress the fat and fibers" means cutting out the white core of fat and the tough gristly tubes where the lobes meet, working from the split face with the point of a knife. Leave the lobes attached at the outer edge so the kidney holds its butterflied shape.
The skewerRunning a skewer through the length is not decoration — kidney contracts and curls hard under heat, and the skewer holds it flat so it cooks evenly and can be turned in one piece. Two thin skewers set parallel work better than one.
Blanched beef marrowBeg marrow bones from the butcher, push the marrow out in whole cylinders (soaking the bones in cold salted water for several hours loosens it), then poach the pieces in barely simmering salted water for 2-3 minutes until just translucent and firm. Boiling melts them into nothing.
Colbert sauceColbert (Ranhofer's No. 451, not reproduced here) is generally a meat glaze or reduced demi-glace finished off the heat with butter, lemon juice and chopped parsley, often with tarragon and a little cayenne. It must not boil after the butter goes in or it separates; hold it warm, not hot.
Seasoning and crumbsSeason the cut faces with salt and pepper before the butter, since the crumb coat seals the surface. Use dry, fine crumbs and press them on so they hold through turning.
Serving"Dress" means arrange on the hot platter. Lay the marrow slices over the kidney. Ranhofer says to pour the sauce over; saucing around instead will keep the crumbs crisper. Serve immediately, as both kidney and marrow lose their texture as they sit.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer published The Epicurean in 1894 after decades as chef of Delmonico's in New York, and its numbered cross-references — sauce No. 451, dish No. 1526 — reflect a professional brigade kitchen where sauces were standing preparations rather than something made from scratch for one order. Beef marrow served over grilled meat was a mark of high nineteenth-century French cookery: it is the same logic as entrecote a la moelle or a la bordelaise, where poached marrow supplies richness without the weight of more butter. The sauce is named for Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV's finance minister, an attribution generally treated as honorific rather than documented; by Ranhofer's day it meant a glaze sharpened with lemon and herbs and mounted with butter. Veal kidney had a settled place on American restaurant menus of the period, when organ meats are often said to have been priced as delicacies rather than offcuts.