Smoked venison kidneys are not only one of the best ways I’ve had deer kidneys, it’s one of the best recipes for offal and organ meats I know. If you’ve had kidneys are didn’t care for them in the past, or if you’re new to cooking kidneys and want something that everyone will eat this is a great place to start.
Besides the trotters/feet and gut bag, kidneys are right up there with the most discarded parts of venison.
Even after my years of nose-to tail and whole-animal cooking and tutelage in professional restaurants, kidneys were still a mystery to me until I started harvesting my own animals.
More than Steak and Kidney Pie
Kidneys are wobbly bits, and, if you’ve ever held one warm, fresh from a creature, you’ll know they have a certain aroma that is probably about as close to smelling fresh animal piss as most people will ever come.
After a couple years of eating and enjoying lamb kidneys and goat kidneys from animals I butcher, I can tell you that kidneys are one of the best pieces of offal there is to be had. If you like liver, even if you don’t like liver, you will like kidneys.
It’s tough to overcook kidneys
Unlike liver, venison kidneys are hard to overcook. The timeline of the smoked venison kidney recipe here I’m sharing might catch you off guard: you cook them for 1.5 hours.
For reference, most of the time I cook liver it’s either hot and fast, or manipulated in some way like pate or my venison braunschweiger dumplings.
Soaking and brining
Soaking and then brining to calm the gamey flavor is really the secret here, and it’s one that I borrowed from another recipe of mine for offal: smoked testicles.
How to Serve
Charcuterie and snack plates
Smoked kidneys will be a great conversation piece for a holiday cheese or charcuterie plate, just slice them thin and have a little hot mustard and crackers ready.
Salads, pasta, sandwiches and more
Kidneys are firm, which means they can be cut into slices or slivers and added to recipes. Imagine thin, smoky slivers tossed in a salad with dried fruit and nuts, stirred into carbonara with bacon at the last minute, or in a sandwich of cold cuts with cheese and pickled peppers.
Bonus: smoked kidneys are a great dog treat
If I have a lot of them, I might smoke kidneys for a good, natural dog treat. If you want to try that, skip brining them since too much salt isn’t good for dogs.
