First he marinated the kidneys in oil with dried chiles, herbs, garlic, and spices. “I was thinking of how with wine you get descriptors like ‘barnyard,’” he says. “Working on a farm growing up, ‘barnyard’ had these hay and urine connotations, horse shit—I thought about how you twist something off-putting into something romantic.” A few months back, a bartender at the restaurant made a cocktail with hay-infused mescal, and Trahan used some of that to make borracho bean puree with kidney beans (“because that’s kind of funny”). He also fried some kidney beans to serve with the kidneys, tossing them with grated lamb salami and smoked lemon-drop peppers.
Kidneys 450 g cleaned kidneys, sinew removed 7 g kosher salt Toast: 1 sprig sage 1 sprig thyme 1 ancho chile 1 guajillo chile 1 smoked lemon-drop pepper 3 cloves garlic 10 g cumin 5 g coriander Combine all ingredients, cover with olive oil.
Grill lamb kidneys to medium-rare and serve with borracho bean puree, kidney bean crunch, lime segments, and crispy sage.
