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Brochette of Mutton Kidneys
Tear skin off twelve very fresh mutton kidneys, then cut in quarter-inch-thick slices crosswise. Cut out an equal number of pieces raw lean bacon, same size but very thin, season kidneys with a half teaspoon each salt and pepper and turn well in the seasoning. Arrange kidneys and bacon alternately on six skewers, roll them in a tablespoon oil, then in bread crumbs. Arrange on a double broiler and broil over a brisk fire for four minutes on each side, dress on a hot dish, pour a little melted butter over and serve.
A grill-room dish that lives or dies on heat and timing: kidneys turn from tender to rubbery in under a minute of overcooking, so have everything skewered and crumbed before the fire is lit.
- The hinge: four minutes a side is the outer limitQuarter-inch slices of kidney are done when the surface is browned and the centre still faintly pink and juicy. Under a modern broiler set high, or over a hot charcoal grill, two to three minutes a side is often enough; press one slice and pull the skewers as soon as it feels springy rather than soft.
- "A brisk fire" and the double broilerBrisk means the hottest fire you have — a broiler element preheated 10 minutes, or coals you can hold a hand over for only two seconds. The double broiler is a hinged wire grill that clamps the food between two grids so the skewers can be flipped as one unit; a fish grilling basket does the same job, or lay the skewers on a rack over a foil-lined sheet pan and turn them individually.
- Sourcing the kidneysMutton kidneys are the kidneys of a mature sheep and are rarely sold whole in supermarkets; ask a halal or specialist butcher, who will more likely have lamb kidneys, which are smaller, milder and perfectly good here. Twelve lamb kidneys will fill six skewers. "Very fresh" is not a flourish — kidneys pick up an ammoniac smell within a couple of days, so use them the day you buy them.
- Preparation the recipe assumes you knowAfter peeling off the membrane, halve each kidney lengthwise and snip out the white core and any fat with scissors before slicing crosswise. A soak in milk or salted water for 20 minutes, then patting dry, is one way to soften the strong taste, and is worth trying with mutton.
- The bacon"Raw lean bacon" means bacon with more meat than fat, cut very thin — raw, i.e. not pre-cooked, so it renders fast enough to baste the kidneys in four minutes. Ordinary thin-cut bacon works; thick-cut will still be flabby when the kidneys are done. Halve or fold the rashers into pieces roughly the size of the kidney slices.
- Crumbs and skewersDry fine breadcrumbs, not panko, and only a light coating: heavy crumbs scorch before the interior cooks. Metal skewers conduct heat into the meat and are the better choice; bamboo needs a 30-minute soak and will still char at this heat.
- Seasoning and yieldHalf a teaspoon each of salt and pepper for twelve kidneys is modest — season to taste. The recipe gives no yield; six skewers would plausibly serve six as a first course or breakfast dish, or about three as a main with potatoes. The finishing butter is not optional; it is the sauce, and a squeeze of lemon or a spoonful of chopped parsley in it does no harm.
Brochette is simply French for skewer, and by the time this book appeared the word had become restaurant shorthand on English and American menus for anything grilled on one. Kidneys on skewers with bacon belong to the same grill-room tradition as devilled kidneys and the mixed grill: organ meats were cheap, cooked in minutes over the open fire of a hotel range, and turned up at breakfast, luncheon and after-theatre supper alike. Mutton — sheep older than a year — was ordinary sheep meat of the period in Britain and much of Europe, stronger in flavour than the lamb that has largely replaced it in English-speaking markets, which is why the recipe specifies "very fresh" kidneys and leans on bacon fat and melted butter to carry the taste.