I hope that you all read Jerry’s post from yesterday, because it contains great pictures of what the kidneys look like raw, soaked, sliced and then cooked. This recipe is similar to Jerry’s in that the kidneys are soaked in a mixture of vinegar and water and then sliced. Onion is sautéed in olive oil until golden and then garlic, parsley, and the kidneys are added. Like yesterday the kidneys are quickly cooked and then removed from the pan to shed their liquid. Wine and cornstarch are then added to the pan to make a sauce and once it is thickened the kidneys, minus the juice, are added back. This is mixed together and then served.

This recipe was a mixed blessing for me. It was an interesting exercise in dissection. I spent the time slicing the kidneys, thinking about what I remembered from biology class about the structure of the kidney. Collecting ducts, glomerulus, and distal tubules were all vaguely remembered terms. Yes, I am a science geek at heart and I really enjoyed that trip down memory lane, but overall I think I was just trying to distract myself from thinking about eating the final dish.

I would like to say that we loved this dish, but alas, that was not the case. Michael and I tried it, but couldn’t handle eating more than a few bites. I did think that it had undertones of liver flavor with a similar texture, but we found the flavor to be very strong and overall different than anything we had ever tried before. In the past, I had always considered myself an adventurous eater, but this challenge has brought me face to face with the fact that I really am not one. Oh well, we can’t all be.