Kidney ragout from the GDR

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 8 pork kidneys
• e.g. water or milk, for watering
• 3 onions
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 liters of water, approx.
• 3 bay leaves
• 3 grains of allspice
• 1 gherkin(s)
• e.g. salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 100 ml water

Instructions

Working time approx. 35 minutes; Rest time approx. 2 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 3 hours; Total time approx. 5 hours 35 minutes

My mom’s recipe

Finely clean the pork kidneys, carefully removing all strands, and chop them into small pieces. Then soak them in water or soak them in milk for about 2 hours. Discard the water/milk! Peel the onions, halve them, and slice them. Melt the butter in a large pan, fry the kidney pieces with the onions, and deglaze with about 100 ml of water as soon as everything starts to brown on the bottom. Stir well and continue frying until the water has evaporated and the food starts to stick to the pan again. Immediately deglaze with more water and repeat the process until a brown sauce develops. Finally, pour in about 1 liter of water and bring everything to a boil. Add bay leaves and allspice berries to taste. Add finely chopped gherkins to taste. Simmer everything on low heat, topping up with a little hot water if necessary to prevent burning. Cook for about 3 hours, or until the kidneys are nice and tender. They’ll get hard at times, but then become quite tender again. Season with salt and pepper. Thicken the ragout with a little cornstarch. To do this, add about 100 ml of cold water to a cup and thoroughly dissolve 1 heaped tablespoon of cornstarch. Add this mixture to the ragout and mix well. We serve it with homemade mashed potatoes or boiled potatoes. All quantities are approximate, as I learned from my mother.