Kidneys may be broiled, cooked whole on casserole, or made into a top-of-the-Stove dish. My trick is a quick hot cooking on top of the stove or in the broiler but a moderate-temperature cooking when doing them in the oven. And my secret for a kidney stew of delicate flavor is to sauté the diced kidneys quickly in very hot fat and put them immediately into a colander to drain. While they are draining, I make the sauce. After the drained kidneys are added to the sauce, the mixture is cooked just to the boiling point but not allowed to boil. This makes a stew of delicate flavor, one in which the kidneys do not overwhelm the sauce.
Whole kidneys cooked en casserole —a popular dish with the French—take longer to cook, and we chefs have our own peculiar way of telling when they are done Pierce the kidney with a long-lined steel kitchen fork and leave it in for a minute or two. Immediately upon withdrawing it, put the tines to your tongue. If the tines are hot. the kidney is done; if only warm, it needs further cooking. There's a chef's trick for you to try, and here are two recipes to practice on.
Steak and Veal Kidney Pie
Mix together 1 pound tender beef, finely minced, 4 veal kidneys, finely minced, 8 to 10 mushrooms, cleaned and sliced, 1 large onion, finely chopped, 1 teaspoon chopped parsley, ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, 4 ounces dry sherry or Madeira, and 1 ½ cups brown sauce or leftover gravy. Place these in a deep china casserole and cover with pie pastry, which usually includes some kidney suet with the shortening. Bake in a moderate oven (350° F) for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top of the pie is browned,
Veal Kidneys en Casserole
Slice 1 carrot and 1 large onion into the bottom of a casserole with 2 sprigs parsley, ½ teaspoon salt, and a little pepper. Trim the fat from 6 veal kidneys, leaving on a layer about ¼ to ½ inch thick. Arrange them on top of the vegetables and bake uncovered in a moderate oven (350° F.) for about 20 minutes, or until they are brown. Cover the casserole and continue baking for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until the kidneys are done when tested with a fork. Remove them to a hot plate.
Drain off as much fat as possible from the casserole and add 8 ounces dry white wine and 1 cup meat gravy or hot water. Cream together 2 teaspoons flour and 2 tablespoons butter and stir into the mixture in the casserole. Return it to the oven and cook for a few minutes longer. Strain the thickened sauce, replace the kidneys in the casserole, pour the strained sauce over them, and arrange on top a garnish of cooked, diced hot potatoes, sautéed mushrooms, small cooked onions, and chopped parsley.
Another question that comes to me from the dining room almost every day is, “Ask the chef how he always gets such a nice even brown glaze on top of fish dishes and chicken hash.” Or, “What does he put on the fruit tarts to make them so shiny?”
As you know, la cuisine frauçaise is what might be called a sauced cuisine, the secret being to make whatever foods you are preparing, whether simple or elaborate, into something extra delicious by means of a good sauce. Often it's a rich cream saute or a Mornay sauce mixed with something like shellfish or chicken. Then we hold hack some of the sauce to spread over the top and the dish is browned in a hot oven or in the broiler. Done this way, the top usually takes on a spotty sort of brown because the heat will make some parts very brown while others are hardly colored at all. This had always bothered me, but it was quite by accident that I discovered a way to overcome it.
One day I was making some deviled crab meat for a party given by a very discriminating guest and wanted to have the covering sauce especially light and delicate. So I decided to mix a little whipped cream—unsweetened, of course —into the portion of sauce I had re-served for spreading on top. When the shells of crab meat came out of the broiler, they had the most beautiful brown glaze I had ever seen. What was the secret? Could it be the whipped cream? I tried the whipped cream trick on other dishes and found that it always worked. The air beaten into the cream seems to spread the butter fat through the sauce to produce the even and shining brown that is so attractive.
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