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Veal Kidneys


Daniel

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Are there good recipes for veal kidneys? Heck yeah! I can't give you amounts, but my father used to flambee them with brandy, and we would have them on toast. One of my favorite food memories from childhood!

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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First of all cook them right away. Nothing worse than a bad veal kidney and they go bad fast. Smell then cook.

I slice them into 3/8" thick pieces and dredge in salted flour, lightly. Sautee in butter till some brown. Not aggro sauteeing. Then deglaze with some red wine, maybe a little red wine vinegar. You could go toward sherry if you want. When wine is all the way reduced cook down rich veal stock and season with salt and generous pepper. There can be shallots too if you want.

I know the place is a bit of a circus but my first and formative veal kidney experience was at Cipriani's uptown. Served with risotto milanese on a small plate, half kidneys and half risotto. . . man that dish when it's right on is the bomb. I've had trouble findiing actual recipes myself and have ended up just reverse engineering what I ate at Cip's.

The next challenge is finding friends who'll eat them with you. Good luck.

You shouldn't eat grouse and woodcock, venison, a quail and dove pate, abalone and oysters, caviar, calf sweetbreads, kidneys, liver, and ducks all during the same week with several cases of wine. That's a health tip.

Jim Harrison from "Off to the Side"

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First of all cook them right away. Nothing worse than a bad veal kidney and they go bad fast. Smell then cook.

I slice them into 3/8" thick pieces and dredge in salted flour, lightly. Sautee in butter till some brown. Not aggro sauteeing. Then deglaze with some red wine, maybe a little red wine vinegar. You could go toward sherry if you want. When wine is all the way reduced cook down rich veal stock and season with salt and generous pepper. There can be shallots too if you want.

I know the place is a bit of a circus but my first and formative veal kidney experience was at Cipriani's uptown. Served with risotto milanese on a small plate, half kidneys and half risotto. . . man that dish when it's right on is the bomb. I've had trouble findiing actual recipes myself and have ended up just reverse engineering what I ate at Cip's.

The next challenge is finding friends who'll eat them with you. Good luck.

You shouldn't eat grouse and woodcock, venison, a quail and dove pate, abalone and oysters, caviar, calf sweetbreads, kidneys, liver, and ducks all during the same week with several cases of wine. That's a health tip.

Jim Harrison from "Off to the Side"

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I don't remember whether my father soaked them (if so, briefly, I would think), but he certainly washed them carefully. He did not boil them, but cooked them up in a pan on the stove.

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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The classic version that I am most familiar with is with a mustard sauce. I am pretty sure it's in Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles cookbook (as well as Escoffier, I am sure).

"If the divine creator has taken pains to give us delicious and exquisite things to eat, the least we can do is prepare them well and serve them with ceremony."

~ Fernand Point

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Ooo, mustard sauce works for me... MB has an interesting version too.. It has potatoes,mushrooms, veal kidneys, parsley and garlic.. Now I am completely at a loss..

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Click here for a report on a recipe Lucy made from Paula Wolfert's The Cooking of Southwest France, complete with photo tutorial!

I have not made this dish, but have probably made 1/3 to 1/2 of the dishes from the book, so I would definitely consider it worth trying.

I think I'm going on Fresh Direct and getting myself some kidneys today.

"If the divine creator has taken pains to give us delicious and exquisite things to eat, the least we can do is prepare them well and serve them with ceremony."

~ Fernand Point

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For the suet, "Les Halles Cookbook" by Anthony Bourdain suggests making fries with them.

Just be sure to have me over, okay? :)

-J.

Ooh, I forgot about that part. Now I'm DEFINITELY buying some kidneys (unless Daniel is having a party :biggrin: ).

Edited by mikeycook (log)

"If the divine creator has taken pains to give us delicious and exquisite things to eat, the least we can do is prepare them well and serve them with ceremony."

~ Fernand Point

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Are there good recipes for veal kidneys? Heck yeah! I can't give you amounts, but my father used to flambee them with brandy, and we would have them on toast. One of my favorite food memories from childhood!

And you think my children have an unusual culinary upbringing! :raz:

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Are there good recipes for veal kidneys? Heck yeah! I can't give you amounts, but my father used to flambee them with brandy, and we would have them on toast. One of my favorite food memories from childhood!

And you think my children have an unusual culinary upbringing! :raz:

My brother and I did, too. But the calf kidneys were a special treat every few months.

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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I've never soaked a veal kidney. The threat of drinking pee is why most of my friends won't eat "rognons de veau."

I'd do whatever Ms. Wolfert says.

Larousse has tons of recipes. Look under offal.

Pan: Either your dad was having you on or I misunderstood your post. Veal kidney and calf kidney are one in the same.

Escoffier also has lots of recipes. See numbers 2684 through 2698.

The Dione Lucas Book of French Cooking also has a few things.

You shouldn't eat grouse and woodcock, venison, a quail and dove pate, abalone and oysters, caviar, calf sweetbreads, kidneys, liver, and ducks all during the same week with several cases of wine. That's a health tip.

Jim Harrison from "Off to the Side"

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[...]Pan:  Either your dad was having you on or I misunderstood your post.  Veal kidney and calf kidney are one in the same.[...]

He called them calf kidneys, that's all. Of course I know that calf and veal are the same, when talking about meat.

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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Well I guess I made the mistake of ordering Veal Kidneys from Fresh Direct.. They came completely cleaned and not uniform in color... I prepared them A la Bourdain.. In a mustard shallot cream sauce.. I sliced them and plated them over fresh rosemary baked mini potatoes.. The first bite was excellent.. The second bite tasted a little funny.. So funny in fact, it produced an immediate gag reflex.. I quickly expelled the offensive material from my body..

Oh well the potatoes were good and so was the sauce.. In the future I will get my kidneys from a reliable Butcher..

Thanks for the suggestions.

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You know im wondering if that is why one of my chefs boiled his first for 30 mins.

He then set it in a pan with holes and put another pan on top of it with cans for weight, he would then let it sit over night in the fridge. The next day they were more uniform in size and we would punch out circles of the kidney, then dredge it in flour and cook it like you would a liver. He then always made some sort of marmalde sauce or something sweet you would use with Foi.

I am almost thinking the boiling got rid of the bad lingering tastes.

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Well I guess I made the mistake of ordering Veal Kidneys from Fresh Direct.. They came completely cleaned and not uniform in color...  I prepared them A la Bourdain.. In a mustard shallot cream sauce.. I sliced them and plated them over fresh rosemary baked mini potatoes.. The first bite was excellent.. The second bite tasted a little funny.. So funny in fact, it produced an immediate gag reflex.. I quickly expelled the offensive material from my body.. 

Oh well the potatoes were good and so was the sauce.. In the future I will get my kidneys from a reliable Butcher..

Thanks for the suggestions.

Thanks for the note. I just removed them from my Fresh Direct order. Too bad because most of the meat I've gotten from them has been good.

"If the divine creator has taken pains to give us delicious and exquisite things to eat, the least we can do is prepare them well and serve them with ceremony."

~ Fernand Point

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You know im wondering if that is why one of my chefs boiled his first for 30 mins.

He then set it in a pan with holes and put another pan on top of it with cans for weight, he would then let it sit over night in the fridge.  The next day they were more uniform in size and we would punch out circles of the kidney, then dredge it in flour and cook it like you would a liver.  He then always made some sort of marmalde sauce or something sweet you would use with Foi.

I am almost thinking the boiling got rid of the bad lingering tastes.

Those are all good ideas... And the next time, when I purchase them from a butcher, I will try that.. I just soaked mine in a vinegar and water solution for a couple of hours.. But I like the flattening and cutting out in circles..

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If they're real fresh you shouldn't have to soak or boil them. They can be overcooked and don't need to be "set" like sweetbreads which may be where the idea of boiling for a while is coming from. Call Lobel's and see if they'll sell them to you. If anybody can be trusted to sell you a fresh kidney, it's Lobel's.

You shouldn't eat grouse and woodcock, venison, a quail and dove pate, abalone and oysters, caviar, calf sweetbreads, kidneys, liver, and ducks all during the same week with several cases of wine. That's a health tip.

Jim Harrison from "Off to the Side"

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