Cooking shocker with Jonny69 - Kidney in lamb stew

Jonny69

Jonny69

Jonny69

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Tonight's dinner is lamb stew in which I tried to add a little extra. A few weeks ago I did a Lancashire hotpot and made it with about 1/3 lamb liver with the lamb. It was absolutely fantastic and added a lot of lovely flavour to it. I actually meant to buy kidney having sampled many steak and kidney pies over the years but got liver by mistake. No worries, it was fine.

So today I tackled kidneys, I've never done kidneys before. They come frozen from the supermarket and are dead cheap, the perfect offal really... Well that's what I thought until I defrosted them. Ok it looked like there was a lot of liquid in there which I tipped down the sink and then found out that kidneys are literally like slime. They are hard to cut and there's a line of gristle inside them. No worries, that didn't put me off. Into the frying pan to brown some of them off. Oooooo there's suddenly a horrible smell of sheep and sheep pee in the kitchen, a REALLY horrible smell. :eek:

Veggie girlfriend leaves at this point.

Phonecall to mum. Help. Soak them in milk first. Half hour in milk and I have brown milky goo that smells like sheep pee, strongly of pee. Gave them a serious rinse and they start to disintegrate. Gross. Really horrible. And then threw them in the stew.

So in about half an hour I can tell you what it tastes like. The gravy tastes fantastic, if a little strong. It probably didn't need anywhere near as much stock as usual because of the kidney but I think it's ok.

Here's the recipe:

500g cubed lamb
1/3 to 1/2 again of lamb kidney but I strongly suggest leave that out :D
2 onions, sliced
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 beef stock cube, crumbled
1 large carrot, sliced
Handful of pearl barley
Handful of pasta (optional)
2 teaspoons of flour
Boiling water

Brown the meat and transfer to a large pot. Brown the onions and garlic and transfer to same pot. Add stock cube, flour, pearl barley and carrot, stir it all together and cover it with boiling water. Add plenty of pepper, but not too much salt because the stock cube is quite salty. Bung on a lid and pop it in a 180 degree oven for 2 hours or more. About 30 minutes before you want to serve throw in the pasta if you like pasta in your stew.

Serve up with crispy roasties :)
 
Yeah kidneys, liver etc really benefit from soaking in milk for half an hour before using. Not really into kidneys but have heard they really add to the flavour.

Today for me it was a roast chicken. Usually have beef or lamb on a Sunday but today I bought a free range organic bird to see if the difference is all Jamie Oliver and the pro cooks say it is - seems a bit sweeter, more tender and certainlt less fat. Cut a bulb of garlic in half and chucked it in the cavity, smeared olive oil over it then sprinkled with sea salt, pepper and thyme - superb. Looking forward to afters :)
 
LizardKing said:
Ox kidney tends to be the most commonly used ;)
lambs kidney is probably best suited to faggots
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What exactly are you trying to say?

:D

Anyway, twas a good stew. I'll recommend it if you can stomach the preparation but cut the kidney down to about 1/4 overall otherwise the stew smells quite er, gamey.
 
Kidney on its own is TASTY.

I would have eaten it if i'd been there, i love stews :)

Any chance of a sample of stew via the postal service ?


EMAIL IN TRUST ! :D
 
That looks offal, but good at the same time :)

You have to clean out kidneys well and they do smell a bit, especially the bigger ones. I prefer them simply fried in butter with pepper and mustard.

This reminds me, I haven't had stuffed lambs hearts in a while. I'll have to post a recipe when I do.
 
Kidneys ain't the worst thing to prep.
That goes to Liver, it just feels wrong when uncooked. and the smell makes my stomach churn every time!
Gutting fish comes a close second

Kidney is great for making nice gravy though ;)
 
Cybermyk said:
That looks offal, but good at the same time :)

You have to clean out kidneys well and they do smell a bit, especially the bigger ones. I prefer them simply fried in butter with pepper and mustard.

This reminds me, I haven't had stuffed lambs hearts in a while. I'll have to post a recipe when I do.
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Heart is a good alternative to the lamb in any stew. Love it, but my local supermarket doesn't keep them. Never quite know how much of the tubes and pipes to cut out, but it's like a fun science lesson as you cook :D
 
Love liver, especially calves' liver. Love testicles sauteed in butter, love stuffed hearts. Hate, absolutely hate the smell of kidneys, just like old peoples' homes.
 
I think that is what's going to stop me doing kidney again, the smell is rough, harsh on the nostrils. Smells like I weed on my hands too. I'll stick to pre-prepared I think, let someone else do the smelly bit :D

Royality said:
Never eat kidney... it's just offal. :(
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You say that like it's a bad thing. You eat sausages don't you? Much worse goes in them :p
 
Yeah mum said you rang earlier about how to cook this :D ;)

contactchimp.jpg
 
Jonny69 said:
Heart is a good alternative to the lamb in any stew. Love it, but my local supermarket doesn't keep them. Never quite know how much of the tubes and pipes to cut out, but it's like a fun science lesson as you cook :D
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I just 'top' them to take off the bit of fat and then take out any obvious pipework. Then I usually just fill them with sage and onion stuffing and roast for 40 minutes or so. I just have them with mash gravy and veg like any other roast.

If the supermarket actually has a butcher then there shouldn't really be a problem getting them but you'd probably be better off going to a proper butchers.
 
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