Kidneys

My Grandma used make braised kidneys, which I enjoyed as a boy until somebody told me their precise biological function. Anyway, I'd like to find a restaurant that serves up a good rendition, for the occasional kidney Jones. I think they were calf kidneys. Any suggestions?

Wow, almost a hundred views and nobody has a clue yet. Maybe it's not out there. Anyone ever make these at home?

Honestly I've never had them.
I'd be curious to try.

The only place I've had them was in Paris. The recipe was something like this.


I saw them at Caputo's in Elmwood Park on Saturday.

I've seen them occassionally available at Indo-Pak (generally Muslim) places like Shan.

Salam has a lamb liver and kidneys dish that they serve with a parsley salad. I had it delivered a couple of weeks ago and could see potential, as I suspect it was the delivery time that caused both meats to become pretty rubbery.

I am almost positive some of the places in Chinatown have stir fried kidney dishes.

Kennyz wrote:Salam has a lamb liver and kidneys dish that they serve with a parsley salad. I had it delivered a couple of weeks ago and could see potential, as I suspect it was the delivery time that caused both meats to become pretty rubbery.

Very much enjoyed Salam's liver/heart/kidney with caramelized onions at the restaurant. Been a while though, but now that I am thinking of the dish I imagine it won't be long before I'm there.

Had rognons de veau with a mustard sauce in Paris recently. Today, at Marketplace on Oakton in Skokie I ran across a meat billed as "beef kidneys" and I wondered whether they were mislabeled veal kidneys, being of about the same size as those I had in Paris.

Seems like when I've had kidneys in the States, they have always been a daily special at a French spot. Why not call around?

As a result of starting to read James Joyce's Ulysses and watching episodes of the Two Fat Ladies--though, it hardly needs be said, not at the same time--I am intrigued lately by what appears to be a British/Scottish/Irish tradition of eating kidneys for breakfast, specifically sheep or lamb kidneys. (The Two Fat Ladies advise that beef kidneys are too large to be manageable.)

It occurs to me that I've never seen kidneys in a store. But I imagine that Dorfler's in Buffalo Grove--the closest specialty butcher to me, and one that has provided us with some nice lamb on occasion--would be the place to ask for it.

I wonder, are they much like chicken livers? Or much different?

The Two Fat Ladies--Jennifer Paterson, specifically, the dark-haired smoking one--gave a very good demonstration of how to both skin and core (remove that little white paw, as she called it, at the center of) a kidney.

Any suggestions or insights? I'm up for asking Dorfler's for some, just to find out what they're like. I imagine they're meatier than chicken livers but less chewy than gizzards. Habibi struggled to get past them, but apparently lots of people across the pond consider them great breakfast eats. I'm not that big on breakfast myself, but a breakfast with meat involved appeals to me more than one without, and I do like (dare I say, crave?) a plate of chicken livers, gravy and white rice at times, so I wonder if it would be good to know about what kidneys could contribute.

I have a friend who's a doctor, a retired GP, who gently discourages my consumption of organ meat, and I do feel that iron supplements are inappropriate for most people, but still, I can't help feeling there's something good to be gained from eating some chicken or calf liver once in a while. I don't honestly know if kidneys fall into the same category.

Can someone please tell me: how do they taste?

HI,

Kidneys if not cleaned properly may have a faint odor and taste of urine.

It would seem possible Pleasant House Bakery might do steak and kidney pie as a special.

Regards,

Katie wrote:I wonder, are they much like chicken livers? Or much different?

Soak some liver in piss if you want to approximate the flavor of kidneys (can you tell I'm not a big fan of the "moist tender gland"?). James Joyce and Leopold Bloom had it right: mutton kidneys will give to your palate "a fine tang of faintly scented urine."

Cogito wrote:My Grandma used make braised kidneys, which I enjoyed as a boy until somebody told me their precise biological function. Anyway, I'd like to find a restaurant that serves up a good rendition, for the occasional kidney Jones. I think they were calf kidneys. Any suggestions?

Most of the good steak and kidney pie that I have had have been in the food courts of Eaton's and Hudson Bay stores in Vancouver and Toronto. If properly prepared, it is not all that bad but it is something that I have to be in a mood to eat.

My family growing up always had kidneys for weekend breakfast. (Scottish on Dad's side as mentioned in an earlier post) (not to mention kippers on Sunday)

I prefer lamb kidneys, but locally beef kidneys are cheaper and easier to find.
Usually I just put them in a pan with butter, then put in a couple of eggs after the meat has been taken up so some of the flavor is in the eggs. Before he passed on, my father would demand steak and kidney pie if we did see lamb kidneys. Otherwise there was a canned version that I always made sure that I had at least one in reserve for him. http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/asda-compare-prices/Tinned_Meat_And_Poultry/Fray_Bentos_Steak_And_Kidney_Pie_475g.html

Sometimes when I am in the mood, stir fried kidneys with onion, garlic, and fried rice. If there is any leftover steak that is chopped up and tossed in as well. A friend that visits loves kidneys cooked in butter and coated with "Texas Pete", a mild hot sauce from NC that is now available nationwide at Walmart. Sometimes breaded and fried, then covered in Texas Pete.

Oh - no matter how they are cooked, I take off the membrane, slice it up into medium chunks, making sure that the white internal part is left out.

One oddball kidney meal I had when having the misfortune of living in Charleston, sc was a bbq kidney sandwich. The kidneys were cleaned, sliced thin, and pressure smoked. Then mixed with a mustard based bbq sauce and served on a bun. There were two dipping sauces as well. One was a mild horseradish, the other a spicy vinegar. This was in a hole in the wall that was an outdoor fence shop and bbq joint off of the main roads. The best part of stopping there was their home made potato chips.

I will say that Charleston was great for oddball butcher shop items. When I first moved there I was wanting a smoked tongue. At the time I was used to paying $2/lb. when asking the local butcher I got a reply of "y'all actually eat that?" And he brought out 20 lbs and sold them to me for 25 cents a lb. he would,call whenever he got a large amount and I would fill the freezer. He also gave me sausage casing for free, totally shocked that someone made sausage at home. That threw me as much as people hunted in the area.

From my limited experience, the texture of kidneys is quite a bit different from liver – firmer, almost “crunchy” in an unpleasant, gristly way.

Actually, I like the texture. But I was brought up on it.

moose734 wrote:I am almost positive some of the places in Chinatown have stir fried kidney dishes.

I know for a fact Lao Sze Chuan has multiple stir fried kidney dishes.

Cogito wrote:My Grandma used make braised kidneys, which I enjoyed as a boy until somebody told me their precise biological function. Anyway, I'd like to find a restaurant that serves up a good rendition, for the occasional kidney Jones. I think they were calf kidneys. Any suggestions?

I've seen them on the Specials menu at La Sardine in the past, but I haven't been in a while and they aren't listed on their current online menu. It's a relatively common thing to see on the menu at a french restaraunt though, and we definitely have a few of them here in Chicago so I would start there.

Katie wrote:I wonder, are they much like chicken livers? Or much different?

In Egypt I'd order chicken livers most everytime I could, simply delicious. The kidneys not so much. So I thought quite different.

that was awhile ago, so I'd like to try both again.

Sweet Willie wrote:In Egypt I'd order chicken livers most everytime I could, simply delicious. The kidneys not so much. So I thought quite different.

Salam offers a tasty mix of liver, heart and kidney with caramelized onions

Salam Restaurant
4636 N Kedzie Ave
Chicago, IL 60625
773-583-0776

Gary,

Is this available daily or as a special, it really does sound very appealling.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Is this available daily or as a special, it really does sound very appealling.

Cathy,

Its a regular menu item at Salam, available every day. I just looked up Salam's menu and it says "Liver & Kidneys fresh lamb liver and kidneys fried with onions and parsley mixed with our special lemon dressing." No mention of heart. I thought there was heart in the mix, but may have remembered incorrectly. I've had this recently, a highly recommended dish.

Regards,
Gary

I've had kidneys only as steak and kidney pie (in London, surprise surprise), and as part of a mixed grill en brochette, so they were pretty much just broiled, as far as I could tell. Never really developed a taste for them. They always came across as mushrooms infused with organ meat funk. Not like liver, texturally. More resistance. Didn't hate them, but never felt like seeking them out. It's been decades, but I'm pretty sure one of those mixed grills was somewhere in Chicago---doubtless, somewhere that has faded into the mists of history.

mrbarolo wrote:I've had kidneys only as steak and kidney pie (in London, surprise surprise), and as part of a mixed grill en brochette, so they were pretty much just broiled, as far as I could tell. Never really developed a taste for them. They always came across as mushrooms infused with organ meat funk. Not like liver, texturally. More resistance. Didn't hate them, but never felt like seeking them out. It's been decades, but I'm pretty sure one of those mixed grills was somewhere in Chicago---doubtless, somewhere that has faded into the mists of history.

Kidney adventurers should seek forth Chicago's Muslim South Asian joints. Call, Shan for example, and asketh. Pissers thou shalt recieveth.

Hi,

I saw a kidney dish on (Ed's) Potsticker House menu yesterday.

Regards,