When the New York World's Fair opened in the spring of 1939, the old New York Ritz, always a haven for the international set, hummed with activity, At every meal our dining rooms were crowded to the doors with distinguished foreign guests, most of them gourmets of no mean stature. In the kitchen we found that the popularity of the standard American favorites like broiled steak and chicken was giving way, if only temporarily, to Continental dishes made with sweetbreads, kidneys, and tripe!
I had learned in my very first months at the Ritz, nearly thirty years earlier, that the meat specialties, or les abats, as we call them in France, were ordinarily not too well received by :he average American, although European connoisseurs consider them the greatest of delicacies. I was to learn that most Americans do not regularly use these variety meats in their homes and that American children do not have the opportunity to learn to like this very fine and very nutritious kind of food.
The situation is very different in Europe, of course. For instance, two of our English guests, in New York to supervise the final details at the British Pavilion, learned that I had once worked at the London Ritz, and one day they came to me with a special request They were homesick for a real English steak and kidney pie. I took no chances on disappointing the visiting Englishmen. I went into the kitchen myself and made steak and kidney pie exactly as I had been taught to by an English cook. Apparently I had not forgotten my lesson, because, after they had enjoyed the pie, the gentlemen came to compliment me and to ask that I prepare identical pies for a dinner which was to be given for the Pavilion's board of directors on opening day. They insisted that I bake the pies in English china baking dishes, “None of your French clay accessories, Monsieur Louis,” they warned me.
When the great day came and the pies were ready in their deep bowls, I had them packed in strong canons and put aside for the messengers who were to transport them to the Fair grounds. Hut the messenger boys turned out to be my two distinguished guests. Each of them carried off his carton as proudly as if it contained the British crown jewels!
The first of the variety meats, for the gourmet, is sweetbreads. This subject was exhaustively dealt with in GOURMET for September, 1955, so that I should like to go on to kidneys which, unlike sweetbreads, vary considerably in size and tenderness.
The beef kidney is, of course, the largest, but also the least delicate. It will serve two or three people. Veal kidneys are smaller, and one makes a portion. while two lamb or mutton kidneys are needed to serve one person. The kidney is surrounded by fat, and the suet from the beef kidney is considered ore of the best animal fats for cooking. In England, kidney suet is an indispensable part of Christmas puddings and dumplings. A thin layer of fat is left on veal and beef kidneys, but the fat of lamb and mutton kidneys is trimmed off and discarded, because its strong flavor is not acceptable. Lamb and mutton kidneys have a thin skin under the fat, and this too is pulled off and discarded.
Kidneys may be braised in the oven; in this case, they are left whole, and the time given for cooking lakes into account the kind of kidney and its size. A chef tests a whole kidney by piercing it with a kitchen fork. After the fork has been in the kidney for a few minutes, he touches it to his tongue; if the fork is hot, the kidney is done. Long cooking toughens kidneys. On the top of the stove, kidneys are cooked at high heat for a short time. When I serve kidneys in a sauce, I find that their tenderness and delicacy of flavor are assured if I first make the sauce, then cut the kidneys into small pieces and saute them quickly in good fat over a high flame, tossing them so that they cook on all sides. When they are lightly browned, I turn them into a strainer and drain off the cooking fat. Then I add them to the sauce and bring the sauce just to the boiling point, to reheat them.
Steak and Kidney Pie
Cut in small dice 1 pound tender beef and A veal kidneys. Combine the meats and add 2 hard-cooked eggs, finely chopped, 8 mushrooms, peeled and sliced, 1 onion, finely chopped, 1 teaspoon chopped parsley, ½ teaspoon salt, a dash of pepper, ¼ cup dry sherry or Madeira. 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce and 1 cup simple brown sauce. Turn the mixture into a deep casserole, cover it with puff paste (May, 1955) and bake it in a moderate oven (350° F.) for about 1 hour, or until the top is browned and the meat tender.
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