No. 1617

Mutton Kidneys a la Soubise

Rognons de Mouton a la Soubise

There is a certain way of splitting the kidneys and running them on skewers so that when cooked they form a very distinct hollow in the center; for this it requires that they be split deeply on the hollow side, opened, and two skewers thrust through the entire thickness, each side of the fat so that the meats come together again while cooking, the center forming a pocket; season and roll them in melted butter, broil over a good fire, then withdraw the skewers, and glaze the kidneys with a brush. Dress them on a dish and fill in the hollow with a slightly consistent soubise puree (No. 723), laid on through a small pocket or paper cornet. Serve them at once; the soubise may be replaced by a bearnaise sauce (No. 433).

← No. 1616 Mutton Kidneys a la Burtel Mutton No. 1618 Mutton Kidneys on Skewers →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer assumes you know how to butcher and broil a kidney and gives his attention entirely to the skewering trick that makes the hollow. The rest has to be filled in.

SourcingMutton kidneys mean the kidneys of a mature sheep; what a butcher will sell you now is almost always lamb, which is milder and smaller. Figure two per person as a first course, three or four as a main.
Preparation before you startStrip the enveloping suet, peel off the thin outer membrane, and snip out the white core at the hollow. Ranhofer's instruction to skewer "each side of the fat" most likely refers to the fatty hilum at the concave side, which is where the kidney naturally wants to fold open.
The skewersTwo thin metal skewers run parallel through the split kidney hold it open against the curl of the contracting muscle, so that the center closes into the pocket Ranhofer describes. Soak wooden skewers if that is what you have, though metal conducts heat and cooks the interior more evenly.
The hinge: do not overcookKidney passes quickly from tender to grainy and ammoniac. A few minutes a side over a hot fire, pulled while the center is still rosy, is the whole of it; "a good fire" here means direct high heat, roughly what a broiler on full or coals you can hold a hand over for two seconds gives.
GlazingTo "glaze with a brush" means painting on reduced meat stock, glace de viande, not sugar. A few spoonfuls of well-reduced brown stock brushed over the hot kidney gives the shine; melted butter alone will do at a pinch.
SoubiseRanhofer's No. 723 is his soubise puree, an onion base sieved smooth and bound, as such purees usually were, with rice or a thick bechamel. "Slightly consistent" means stiff enough to hold its shape in the hollow rather than run off the plate, so reduce it further than you would a sauce.
Pocket or paper cornetA piping bag or a rolled paper cone. The point is to place the puree neatly in the cavity rather than spoon it over the meat.
ServingKidneys cool fast and stiffen as they do, which is why he says serve at once. Warm the plates and have the soubise hot and ready before the kidneys come off the fire.

A Little History

Soubise, the onion puree, is traditionally credited to the household of the eighteenth-century Prince de Soubise and by the nineteenth century meant any dish finished with a sieved onion base, usually bound with rice or bechamel to keep it from weeping. Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's in New York, published The Epicurean in 1894 as a complete record of the restaurant's repertoire, and its mutton section carries a run of numbered kidney preparations, of which this is one; grilled kidneys were common breakfast, luncheon and supper fare in the grand hotels and clubs of the period. The skewering technique described here is the practical heart of the entry: it is a plating device as much as a cooking one, turning an awkward, curling piece of offal into a neat cup that will hold a sauce. That so much of the instruction concerns shape rather than seasoning tells you what mattered in a Delmonico's dining room.