No. 1620

Mutton Kidneys on Skewers, Deviled

Rognons de Mouton en Brochettes a la Diable

Split the kidneys through on the round side, opening without separating the parts; spread open and thrust a metal skewer through; season with salt, and coat over with mustard and prepared red pepper (No. 168), roll in bread-crumbs, besprinkle with oil and broil, then dress them on a deviled sauce (No. 459).

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For the Modern Kitchen

A short, complete recipe once the cross-references are unpacked. The main thing standing between it and a good result is heat and timing: kidneys are unforgiving.

Do not overcook themSplit lamb kidneys need about two to three minutes a side under a hot broiler or over live coals. Past the point where the centre stops being rosy they turn grainy and ammoniac, which is the reason so many people believe they dislike kidneys.
SourcingMutton kidneys, from a sheep over two years old, are essentially unavailable now; lamb kidneys are the direct substitute and are milder. Allow two per person as a first course or savoury, three as a main. Ask the butcher to supply them still in their suet if possible, and strip the fat and the thin outer membrane yourself.
Trimming and splittingSplit through the convex side so the kidney opens flat like a butterfly, hinged at the white core. Snip out the visible white gristle at the centre with scissors, but do not cut so deep that the two halves fall apart.
The skewerRanhofer specifies a metal skewer. In practice it runs through the opened kidney and holds it flat, which stops it curling as it cooks. Two thin skewers run parallel through each kidney give better control than one. Soaked bamboo works but scorches under a broiler.
"Prepared red pepper" (No. 168)The cross-reference is to a prepared red-pepper (cayenne) seasoning rather than a fresh chile. English mustard slackened with a little cayenne, or a spoonful of Dijon with a good pinch of cayenne, gives the same effect: enough mustard to hold the crumbs, enough pepper to make it a la diable.
"Deviled sauce" (No. 459)A sauce diable of this period is generally a reduction of white wine, vinegar and shallot let down with espagnole and sharpened with cayenne. A demi-glace or good reduced brown stock finished with the wine-vinegar-shallot reduction and cayenne stands in for it. Spoon it onto the plate and set the kidneys on top, as directed, rather than over them, so the crumb stays crisp.
Crumbs and oilUse dry fine crumbs, not fresh, and press them on firmly over the mustard. "Besprinkle with oil" means a light drizzle or a brushing, just enough to let the crumbs colour; too much and it flares and smokes under a broiler.
SoakingSome cooks of the period rinsed or briefly soaked kidneys in cold water or milk. Fresh lamb kidneys do not need it, and a soaked kidney sheds water under the broiler and steams instead of browning.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer set this down among the mutton entrees of The Epicurean (1894), the enormous record of his long tenure running the kitchen at Delmonico's in New York. A la diable is the standard French designation for anything treated with mustard, cayenne and crumbs and grilled -- the heat being the devilment -- and by the 1890s it was attached above all to kidneys, chicken legs and leftover bones. Grilled devilled kidneys were also fixed in the British breakfast and supper repertoire of the same decades. Ranhofer gives several consecutive kidney preparations here. The skewer is not decoration: it is the working solution to a kidney's tendency to contract into a knot over fire.