Brains For Dinner
Written By: Alexandra Perez-Urbina on Wed, Oct 15th 2008
I can finally say that I am a true carnivore - I've eaten innards. I've consumed kidney and brain in a variety of ways (sort of...). I wasn't able to try all of the kidney dishes at school. I had one and it was ok. Then I had another which had a prominent ammonia flavor, and I had to spit it out in the trash - and then I sampled another kidney dish that tasted even more like ammonia, and I spit that one out too, and decided to quit the kidney sampling and suck on a cough drop instead. Earlier in the class, I concluded that the instructor was not fond of kidneys, and at the end he agreed that he didn't "care for them." It's hard to get past the flavor of kidneys because it can be so strong and unpleasant. I guess it's a flavor you have to get used to...
Brain was surprisingly better in the flavor department. First of all, brain really is squishy when it's raw! It was fun to play with and look at, though I was slightly disturbed when my partner discovered a little bit of the spinal cord still attached. Brain's flavor is mild and the texture is custard like. The dish my partner and I cooked involved searing the brain, which gave it a bit of a crust, so it was a bit like a savory créme brulee. The texture was the major obstacle for many in tasting/eating brain because it did not taste bad - it was just a little mushy...
As far as cooking techniques go, these two organ meats were treated differently than muscle meat. Kidney's need to be soaked in acidulated water for an hour then dried before cooking (especially if a nice sear is desired). As I previously mentioned, kidneys contain traces of ammonia, which is perfectly natural as the kidneys' function is to cleanse the body of waste. One way to cook kidneys in order to lessen the ammonia flavors is to slice the kidneys and cook them quickly before the ammonia escapes; another is to simmer them whole for thirty minutes to allow the ammonia to dissipate. I found the latter method to be more palatable as far as flavor goes, since I was actually able to eat them. The texture was firm, but not tough and chewy.
Brain is cooked differently than kidneys. It is rinsed and then briefly soaked. I'm no expert on brain, but from seemed extremely delicate. We began to cook the calves' brain by poaching it in a court boullion for ten minutes, and then we gently removed it from the poaching liquid and placed it in an ice bath. Then, for what felt like an eternity, we carefully removed the membrane, and when we were finally done, we cut them into medallions, dredged them in seasoned flour and sautéed the brains until they were nice and brown on the outside. The brain had a really nice, crispy layer around it, which was similar to the crunchy sugar layer on a créme brulee. As I mentioned before, brain was creamy and custard-like - interesting to say the least.
I do not how many of you, esteemed readers, are culinary adventurers - for those that are, I recommend brains above kidneys, though, kidneys simmered for a long time are not bad. I would not recommend the adventure to take place at an expensive restaurant, though, even to the most adventurous diner. There was a trashcan handy while we were sampling these meats at school, and most people would not feel comfortable spitting out food or vomiting in a nice restaurant. Organ foods were indeed a new frontier for this wanna-be-chef with, both, pleasant and unpleasant surprises.
