No. 1618

Mutton Kidneys on Skewers

Rognons de Mouton en Brochettes

Select fine chocolate colored mutton kidneys, for those either black or pale yellow are of a poorer quality. Split them three-quarters through the round part, so as to open without separating the pieces; suppress the light skin that covers the surfaces, spread them out, and stick a metal skewer through their thickness, to keep them entirely opened; season with salt, coat with oil or melted butter, and roll them in bread-crumbs, then broil with the open side toward the fire; five or six minutes after turn them over and lay a piece of maitre d'hotel butter (No. 581), the size of a small hickory nut, on top of each, and after they are done, dress. The skewers may be removed before serving, and a little of the maitre d'hotel butter laid on top of each kidney.

← No. 1617 Mutton Kidneys a la Soubise Mutton No. 1619 Mutton Kidneys on Skewers, Bordelaise Sauce →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer assumes a coal-fired grill with the fire in front of the meat rather than beneath it; the method translates directly to a broiler or a hot charcoal grate. The whole dish takes under fifteen minutes, and the only thing that can ruin it is overcooking.

The hinge: stop at pinkKidneys are firm-textured to begin with and turn dense and liverish the moment they pass medium. Ten to twelve minutes total under a hot broiler is the outside limit for lamb kidneys; press them and pull them while they still give slightly, with the centre rosy.
Sourcing"Mutton" here means adult sheep, but what butchers generally sell now is lamb kidney, which is milder and slightly smaller. Ranhofer's colour test still holds: he wants a deep even chocolate brown and rejects black or pale yellow kidneys as poorer quality; a grey or greenish cast or an ammoniacal smell is a modern reason to reject them too.
TrimmingPeel off the thin outer membrane, which shrinks and curls under heat. "Suppress the light skin" is Ranhofer's phrasing for removing that membrane; cutting away the knot of white suet and gristle at the hinge is standard modern practice but is not mentioned in the recipe.
Butterflying and skeweringSplit each kidney about three-quarters through the round part so it opens flat like a book without falling in two, then run the skewer through the thickness to hold the two halves spread. Ranhofer specifies a metal skewer but gives no reason for it.
"Open side toward the fire"Under a modern broiler this means cut side up and close to the element for the first five or six minutes, then turned. On a grill, cut side down over the hottest part first.
Maître d'hôtel butterNo. 581 is butter creamed with chopped parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper. It is added after the turn and again at the table so that some of it melts into the split kidney and some stays fresh and unheated on top.
CrumbsFine dry breadcrumbs, applied over oil or melted butter, are there to brown and protect the surface. They scorch quickly under an aggressive broiler, so keep the pan a hand's width from the element rather than directly against it.
YieldTwo lamb kidneys per person as a course, one as part of a mixed grill. Serve on toast or fried bread, which catches the butter and juices.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894) recorded three decades of cooking at Delmonico's in New York, and its long run of mutton-kidney recipes — à la Soubise, en brochette, en brochette with Bordelaise — reflects how routinely offal appeared on nineteenth-century restaurant cards, both at breakfast and as a small savoury course. Grilled kidneys on skewers belong to the same family as the English mixed grill and the Victorian breakfast dish of devilled kidneys; the French brochette simply names the skewer that keeps the split kidney flat. The insistence on a "chocolate colored" kidney is a reminder that a chef of the period judged offal by eye and nose at the market, and that kidneys of another colour were, in Ranhofer's terms, simply of poorer quality.