English breakfast

February 16, 2010 9:00 AM

From a short story by Roald Dahl. "Sir Basil was there before me,and Jelks was serving him with grilled kidneys and bacon and fried tomatoes."-Neck- My question is about this kidneys.In the nineteenth and twentyth century,the wealthy people would have a breakfast like that?If so,what animal's kidney did they used to have?And they don't have it for breakfast now,don't they?Or Dahl says about something else,such as kidney beans?
posted by mizukko to food & drink (23 answers total)

Real kidneys, the organ meat. Lamb, probably, but also possibly veal or beef.
posted by redfoxtail at 9:02 AM on February 16, 2010

Seconding redfoxtail. You typically don't see kidneys on the breakfast menu these days, but people still eat them sometimes, like in steak and kidney pie.
posted by kataclysm at 9:04 AM on February 16, 2010

the wealthy people would have a breakfast like that?

They served it aboard the Titanic.
posted by vacapinta at 9:06 AM on February 16, 2010

Not only do people still eat them, there has been a pretty strong resurgence in offal and organ meats in fine dining lately.
posted by craven_morhead at 9:12 AM on February 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

It was more popular in the past. In fact, one of the most famous chapters in all of English literature starts with the main character thinking about grilled mutton kidneys.
posted by milarepa at 9:23 AM on February 16, 2010 [3 favorites]

Not unpopular in many places still. No problem buying kidneys for a fry in Ireland, although probably more people 40+ than below.
posted by Iteki at 9:27 AM on February 16, 2010

Kidneys (almost certainly sheep) are an absolutely traditional component of and English "Full Breakfast" (that term as it's used commonly in restaurants, particularly American restaurants now, nearly always eschews the kippers and kidneys). You could still get served kidneys with breakfast today if you found the right restaurant - if you check the menu of this English B&B you will see "local lambs kidneys" there on the sample menu.

There is no doubt that offal in general is not as popular as it once was, but there has been some resurgence of interest in organ meats among the foodies - popular chef/writer Anthony Bourdain has sung their praises many times on his shows, for example, or here is a (warning, graphic pictures of internal organs ahoy) blog by some "edgy" chef championing offal.
posted by nanojath at 9:29 AM on February 16, 2010

Sorry, missed the link on that breakfast-kidney-serving B&B (see the "Sample Menu" link).
posted by nanojath at 9:31 AM on February 16, 2010

If my mum's doing a proper, full-on fry-up (which she does very rarely) then it will include lamb's kidneys. As noted above, much less common in a full English breakfast than it once was.
posted by Coobeastie at 9:31 AM on February 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yep, means the bodily organs. My favourite school lunches (growing up in the UK in the 1970s) were kidney and gravy, and liver and bacon. Grilled kidney was part of a treat breakfast, as were kippers (fish). Trust me, this is much better quality eating than ANYTHING ground down and put into your average sausage or burger. Now - reconditioned by culture - the idea of offal repulses me. But I loved it at the time. I 2nd Ulysses. Leo Bloom even gets off on the taste of urine. Yes, folks, that's part of the flavour... mmm...
posted by Hugobaron at 9:35 AM on February 16, 2010

I had devilled lamb's kidneys on toast for my breakfast this morning. They were lovely.

Preparing them isn't much fun - you have to remove the membranes, their texture when raw is a bit disturbing - but they are truly delicious, so it's worth the effort. And good for you, too.

(Also, all offal is cheap, so kidneys aren't a wealthy person's breakfast dish, particularly.)
posted by a little headband I put around my throat at 9:36 AM on February 16, 2010

Anthony Bourdain has sung their praises many times on his shows

He was turned into an offal lover by Fergus Henderson, I think.
posted by a little headband I put around my throat at 9:42 AM on February 16, 2010

I'm British and I regularly eat kidneys and liver, etc. Not for breakfast though, because I don't want to get fat(ter).
posted by idiomatika at 9:49 AM on February 16, 2010

Mmmm....steak and kidney pie...was my favorite growing up, although these days I tend to use mushrooms as a substitute.
posted by idb at 9:56 AM on February 16, 2010

Notice that on that Titanic menu, first class gets mutton kidneys for breakfast, and second class gets ox kidneys, but poor third class gets no kidneys at all.
posted by Ery at 10:35 AM on February 16, 2010

I still eat steak and kidney pie, and occasionally fried liver (great with plain yoghourt) although not for breakfast. Food was once a very different thing: read a Victorian cook-book, and you'll find plenty of lard (rendered animal fat) used, in everything from frying to making pastry. It tastes a bit greasy and heavy by modern standards, believe me.

Other breakfast favourites included kedgeree (fish and rice), sausage/bacon and fried eggs, black pudding and tomatoes, and (a personal dislike) fried bread. It's much less fashionable today, but nutritionists apparently recommend a high-protein, possibly higher-than-average fat breakfast as a way to stay satisfied until lunch-time. Personally, I prefer cornflakes.
posted by BrokenEnglish at 12:46 PM on February 16, 2010

We would eat lamb's kidney's as part of an English fry-up most Sundays when I was a tyke. Now I only eat them in Steak and Kidney pie.
posted by Kafkaesque at 1:28 PM on February 16, 2010

My parents both enjoy (lambs) kidneys - Dad for breakfast, and Mum in steak and kidney pie. Not a fan, myself.
posted by pompomtom at 2:48 PM on February 16, 2010

Great, now I want kidneys! My dad used to cook a good breakfast most days before school, and quite often we'd have fried mushrooms and kidneys with toast.
posted by tomble at 7:39 PM on February 16, 2010

Still pretty popular in Australia too. I occasionally see them on restaurant menus and can't resist ordering!
posted by indienial at 2:57 AM on February 17, 2010

Kidneys (almost certainly sheep) are an absolutely traditional component of and English "Full Breakfast" (that term as it's used commonly in restaurants

I'm sure there's some places where they're popular, but I've never ever seen them in an English breakfast in a cafe, and seriously doubt they're part of many English people's breakfast at home.

I think offal eating is mostly a retro hobby for people who are into food.

I eat it.
.
posted by Not Supplied at 7:44 AM on February 17, 2010

Thank you, everyone.

Now I understand the kidney that Dahl writes.Anyway,British people had(have?) a good appetite...!
posted by mizukko at 6:33 PM on February 18, 2010

It's totally talking about the organ meat, and to second a lot of opinions here, it's usually lamb or veal (the kidneys of larger ruminants generally not being that appetizing).
Offal has seen a resurgence lately because it was so unpopular for so long that now all those cuts are dirt-ass cheap for chefs to get and all of their customers love it to death because people like Bourdain and Batali flog it constantly.
Which is not to say it's not delicious! In France, they are known as "rognon" and there are places that are famous only for their rognon.
posted by kaiseki at 12:53 PM on February 21, 2010