Experimental kitchen: steak and kidney pie

[serinde]

Mind you, I loathe kidney, as I do all organ meats. But audiovile adores steak and kidney pie, so I'd always intended to master the art. Having narfed some beef kidneys (and oooo, aren't they some ucky lookin' things?) in the last shipment of sacred cow, this seemed a propitious moment to attempt the job.

I used, as a base, Nigella Lawson's recipe for steak-and-kidney pudding, which after cross-referencing with Teh Intarwub I find that the filling is pretty much the same either way. It's just a question of whether you slap it in the oven with some puff pastry on top, or stick it in a pudding dough and steam it.

34 oz. of chuck roast, cut into chunks, as much fat cut off as I could manage
9 oz beef kidney (the total amount after de-coring and de-gristling etc. I started with a single whole kidney.)
- Coat in flour, Coleman's dry mustard, salt and pepper.
- Brown in
2 T. butter
2 T. oil.
[This I did in three groups, in my cast iron skillet.]
- When the meat's removed, fry up:
1 onion, chopped
[Adding more oil if need be.]
- Dump it all back into the pan with:
1/2 c. beef stock
[I used chicken boullion, which was what I had, and a bit of Gravy Master]
1/2 c. stout
1.5 tsp Worcestershire sauce
[Recipe called for oyster sauce. I don't even know what that is. Most other Intarwub contributions said the other, so.]
- deglaze the pan while you're at it. Bring it to a boil, then pop it covered in a 250 degree oven for 90 minutes.
[I then left it in uncovered for 15 minutes longer, to thicken things up a bit.]
- Turn oven up to 400.
- Cover filling with a layer of puff pastry.
[I used frozen. Someday I will make puff pastry, but only when I have a weekend devoted to it, ha ha ha.]
- Bake for some 30 minutes until the pastry is nice and browned.
[And cut more gaps for steam than I did. I didn't make it all the way through the layers of pastry and hilarity ensued.]

Hilarity notwithstanding, it turned out tolerably well. At least, Steve did the happy dance, and pronounced it the pie of his people. He and sweh both thought it needed more kidney--and indeed, the recipe called for a 2:1 meat:grody proportion, but I didn't have much of a notion how much useable kidney was in a kidney, so I went with what I had. (I think they're both crazy, cos it was so kidney-smelling I couldn't eat it. Blechchh.) sweh also noted that it was a bit greasy, which I think was from the excess of fat the stuff was browned in (which I did think at the time was, um, excessive). And there was a general sense that I should have cut the meat chunks smaller, just for easier management; and in retrospect I think the bits I ended up with were probably bigger than 3/4". I'm not good at this comparative sizing thingy.

I may go adventurous and try the pudding next time.

Comments

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Grilled beef kidney is something i greatly like. Haven't had it since i let Ecuador. I'll have to make sure i get some next month.

[lillilah]

I'm all about interesting foods, especially after having been inspired by going to Tea and Sympathy with you. However, beef kidneys seem creepy. I've made steak and Guinness pie and had it turn out quite well. Of course, one big complaint I always get is that I need to cut things smaller. My problem is just that I'm lazy with the cutting. Anyway, go you!

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

My problem is, when I'm cutting up chicken, I usually cut it too small. I think I was overcompensating.

[nancaurelia.livejournal.com]

Ewwww! I am disgusted, and yet I have no right to be, since Liverwurst is among the foods of my people, and I like it once in a while. Likewise pate.

[xlerb.livejournal.com]

INHPH, IJLTS: Pie!!!

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

PIE6666dssssswwwwwww!