An exotic fry-up

Last Saturday, I bought some venison kidneys at Borough Market, and have been wondering what to do with them. Tonight I decided to have a fry up, also with duck eggs, and some wonderful dry cure bacon made from free range Gloucester Old Spot pigs.

When I opened the vacuum pack containing the kidneys, I was initially disapointed by how much they smelled like lamb's kidneys. As I took them out of the pack, I was struck by how much firmer they are than lamb's kidneys. They also have a much darker colour, with just a hint of brown (I don't know if this is a result of the long hanging that the deer carcass would have received).

Upon cutting into the kidney, the core is much smaller than a lambs kidney (although the kidney as a whole is a similar size- slightly longer, but a bit thinner)

I briefly fried the kidneys in hot butter, exactly in the way I would a lambs kidney.

Once on the plate, I was quite suprised by how much blood came out of the kidneys (although it did taste delicous, and mix well with the slightly gamey flavour of the duck egg yolks) - I do like kidneys very rare though. Flavour wise, the strongest flavour was 'kidney', but they was just enough venison flavour to be aware that you are not eating a lambs kidney.