Scotland's Larder In A Bowl

Passport & Plate - Bunty's Kidney Soup

United Kingdom | Friday, March 6, 2015 | flickr photos

Ingredients
The ingredients – Serves 8
For the Stock
2 bird carcasses, chopped into about 8 pieces (pheasant, free range chicken, partridge), usually free from good butchers
1 kilo beef shin, cut into 2 or 3 pieces
350g turnip, peeled & chopped (aka swede, the yellow fleshed & purple skinned variety)
300g onions, peeled & roughly sliced
2 celery stick, roughly chopped
150g carrots, peeled & chopped
30g beef dripping
4 litres cold water

This will make around 4 litres of brown stock and it’s best to make the stock the day before. Allowing the flavours to develop overnight. It will happily keep in the fridge for 5 days, or freeze it until you require it. Don’t throw out the beef shin which will break down a bit once simmered for this long. The meat can be kept with the excess stock and used to make Stovies, a classic Scottish supper dish.

For the soup
3 litres brown stock
8 fresh lambs kidneys, washed, halved & cored; to save time ask the butcher to prepare them for you
30g unsalted butter
150g onion, peeled & chopped
100g carrot, peeled & dice
350g turnip, peeled & diced
3 sprigs fresh rosemary
3 sprigs fresh tyme
3 fresh bay leaves
4 cloves
30g cornflour (mixed with a little cold water) (optional if you don’t like naturally thin soup)
75ml medium sherry (optional, but really brings the soup to life)
Sea salt flakes and ground white pepper – season to taste.

 

How to prepare this recipe
The Method
This recipe is a labour of love; you could cheat and buy shop bought stock, but it just won’t be the same. Once chilled you can remove any excess fat from the stock, making this a really healthy hearty dish.
Step One Make the Brown Stock
Melt half dripping in a large heavy based frying pan
Brown the carcass pieces a few at a time until nice deep golden brown, transfer to stock pot
Brown the beef shin, on all sides until well caramelised, add to stock pot
Melt rest of dripping in pan, add onions, fry on a medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, you want a rich golden brown colour, to help give colour to the stock.
Add onions to stock pot with the water, bring to the boil and then simmer for 2 hours. Skim the stock regularly to remove impurities, a small ladle is good for this.
Add vegetables and continue to simmer for 3 more hours.
Strain, reserving the meat & bones, chill the stock overnight, removing the fat once cold.
The stock will have a delicate wobble to it, once chilled.
Remove the large pieces of beef from the leftovers and keep to make Stovies, using the excess stock.
To Make the Soup
Melt the butter on a med/high heat in a large frying pan, until it foams.
Add the kidneys, don’t over fill the pan (you’ll need to do this in two batches)
Fry quickly until golden brown on each side, approx. 3 mins.
Pop kidneys into soup pan and add stock.
Tie the vegetables & herbs in muslin, add topan. If you like a hearty soup, just pop all the veg & herbs into the pan.
Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 2 hours.
Remove muslin (if using) and kidneys, dice the kidneys and discard the veg if a clearer soup is required.
Add the corn flour to the soup, by mixing it with about 20ml of water, it will form a thin paste which you can whisk into the soup and simmer for a few minutes to thicken.
Add the kidneys and a generous glass of sherry to the pot, season & serve – perhaps with a glass of sherry so you can toast Bunty! Slanjevar from Scotland!

 

The story behind this recipe
“Wellies off, wash your hands; the soup is on…” Granny would call as we returned cold & damp from helping to pack trees in the woods. Our family business was a timber merchant; we kids were always roped in to help with the Christmas trees. Think 1983, the North of Scotland, before the invention of affordable Gortex, Merino wool base layers & Canada Goose hadn’t made it to the UK. Granny (aka Bunty) regularly made her insanely comforting Kidney Soup, we all loved it so rich, warming & hearty. What made it more than a bowl of soup? Bunty’s stock, prepared using carcasses (ponder pheasant, partridge, chicken) left over from a week of cooking, then some mighty beef shin. Add roots, onions and some hardy herbs from the garden. Hours on the stove conjuring sublime flavours. Just add kidneys, another under-rated ingredient, I feel sorrow for those who wince at offal; they haven’t had Bunty’s soup & instead recall boiled bitter mush from their childhoods. Made using inexpensive peasant ingredients, like so many world-renowned classics (think Melazane Parmigiano) when treated with respect & care manifest in a culinary marvel. Every spoonful tastes of Scotland, transporting foodie travellers to a Highland Glen in one sip. The sherry draws the flavours to a magnificent crescendo. I’ve even ‘poshed it up’ serving it at dinner parties, passing it through muslin twice (or time allowing making a consommé) & presenting with a delicate garnish of roots & kidneys & a few wisps of in-season wild garlic. Bunty would be proud, her hearty soup at a dinner party! These days, Bunty is no longer with us, & I no longer pack Christmas trees. I live in the city, & my family & I enjoy the thrill of downhill mountain biking in the woods instead; I make this soup, ready for our return, just like Bunty would have. My happy place, like hers was, is in my kitchen creating new recipes inspired by experiences around the world or simply from the city of Edinburgh, fast becoming a culinary hotspot.