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Veal Kidney Omelet
(Frittata di rognone di vitella) Take a veal kidney, open it lengthwise and leave all its fat. Season with oil, salt and pepper, broil it and cut in thin slices. Beat enough eggs in proportion to the size of the kidney, season them with salt and pepper, both in moderate quantity and mix with them a sprig of parsley and some grated cheese. Put the sliced kidney in the eggs, mix all together and make an omelet with some butter. 62
A short recipe that assumes you know how to handle offal. The kidney is cooked twice — once under the broiler, again briefly in the egg — so the margin between tender and rubbery is narrow.
- The hinge: do not overcook the kidneyBroil it only until the outside is browned and the centre still faintly pink, then slice. It gets a second cooking in the eggs, and kidney that is taken past medium turns firm and gives off a strong ammoniac smell.
- Buying and cleaningA veal kidney is the multi-lobed calf kidney, sold by butchers and often by request only; one weighs roughly 8-12 oz. Split it lengthwise as directed and cut out the white core and any tubes at the centre — the recipe skips this, but it is unpleasant left in. Some cooks soak the halves in milk or acidulated water for 20-30 minutes; this is traditional rather than necessary if the kidney is fresh.
- "Leave all its fat"The suet jacket around a veal kidney bastes it under the broiler and was prized in its own right. If yours arrives already trimmed, brush generously with oil instead.
- BroilingThe recipe gives no times. A hot broiler with the rack a few inches from the element, cut side up first, and a few minutes a side depending on thickness will do it; judge by colour and feel rather than the clock.
- Proportions"Enough eggs in proportion" is left to the cook; for a kidney of the usual size, something in the region of half a dozen eggs, serving two or three, is a reasonable reading. Slice the kidney thin so it distributes rather than sinking.
- Grated cheeseThe recipe does not say which; Parmigiano-Reggiano or another grana is the usual choice, a couple of tablespoons for a half-dozen eggs. Salt lightly given the cheese and the seasoning already on the kidney.
- Frittata, not a folded omeletDespite the English title, frittata means a flat omelet cooked through over moderate heat in butter, loosened, and either flipped or finished under the broiler. It is served in wedges, hot or at room temperature, not rolled.
- The number 62A numeral carried over from the original volume (a recipe or page reference), not part of the method.
Maria Gentile's The Italian Cook Book (1919) was written for American readers at a moment when Italian cooking was still largely an immigrant kitchen rather than a restaurant style, and much of what it contains is frugal household food dressed up in plain English. Offal belongs squarely to that tradition: kidney, liver and sweetbreads were cheap, quick to cook, and appear throughout Italian regional cooking in forms like rognone trifolato, kidney sliced thin and sauteed hard with parsley and garlic. Folding broiled kidney into eggs stretches a small quantity of a strongly flavoured thing across a meal for several people. The eggs, cheese and parsley here do what they do in the book's other frittate; only the filling changes.