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Veal Kidney Sliced
(Rognone di vitello affettato) Cut in thin slices one or two veal kidneys, removing the granulous part that is to be found in the middle, and put the slices in a saucepan with a piece of butter, a bunch of parsley chopped very fine together with a clove of garlic. Add a cup of hot broth; salt moderately and let it cook without boiling, until the sauce is reduced to about one third.
One tablespoonful of vinegar adds a pleasant taste to this dish.
A five-line braise that depends almost entirely on heat control. Veal kidney is tender for about three minutes and leathery thereafter, so the instruction not to boil is the whole recipe.
- Keep it below a simmerThe sauce must never bubble hard. Kidney protein tightens and squeaks at a rolling boil; hold the pan at a bare tremble, and pull the slices out to a warm plate if the liquid still needs reducing.
- The "granulous part"This is the white fatty core with the ureter and vessels running through it. Halve the kidney lengthwise and cut it out with the tip of a knife — it stays rubbery and carries the strongest smell.
- Slicing"Thin" is not defined in the book; something on the order of 1/4 inch works. Much thicker and the outside overcooks before the centre loses its raw look.
- Soaking, which the book omitsModern practice is to rinse the slices in cold water or steep them 20-30 minutes in milk or lightly acidulated water, then pat dry. Veal kidney is mild, but this removes the ammoniac edge that puts people off offal.
- A cup of broth8 fl oz of light veal or chicken stock. Reducing to a third leaves roughly five tablespoons of sauce in all — a glaze, not a gravy.
- Butter quantity"A piece of butter" is left unspecified; 1 to 2 tablespoons will serve, and a fresh knob added off the heat at the end helps bind the reduced sauce.
- The vinegarThe book does not say when to add the tablespoonful. Adding it at the very end, off the heat, keeps it bright; cooked in from the start it turns dull, and cutting the richness is the point of it.
- Yield and servingThe book gives no yield; two kidneys would make a second course for two or three. Serve immediately with bread, soft polenta or plain rice — the dish will not sit in a warm oven without toughening.
- SourcingVeal kidney usually has to be ordered from a butcher, often still encased in its jacket of suet, which should be stripped away. Lamb kidneys are the common substitute and cook the same way, a little faster.
Kidney spoils quickly, so it was often said to have been eaten near where the animal was killed, and Italian regional cooking treats rognone as something to be handled fast and simply. Maria Gentile's The Italian Cook Book (1919) was aimed at American households curious about Italian food, and organ meats — kidney, liver, brains, sweetbreads, tripe — sit comfortably within its repertoire. That reflects both Italian thrift and the ordinary expectations of an American kitchen a century ago. The garlic-and-parsley mince here is the base the Italians call a battuto or, once softened in fat, a soffritto; the finishing splash of vinegar belongs to a much older family of sweet-sour and sharp sauces used to balance rich meats long before lemon became the default.