From Hannibal · 2013-2015 · Reconstructed
Kidney Pie
Serve when
Serve this alone, at Hannibal's own table, late at night — it's the one dish in the run he doesn't share.
In the series
Season 2
- S2E6 · ~00:20:00 Hannibal grinds and prepares a kidney into a pie, eating it privately after killing Beverly Katz
In the series
Hannibal grinding and eating a kidney alone, without an audience, is a quieter and more private version of the show's usual dinner-party spectacle — no guests, no joke to land, just the act itself. The pie format here reconstructs it as what it visually resembles: a classic, dense, gravy-bound kidney pie, the kind of dish that reads as comfort food right up until you know whose kidney the show means.
Ingredients
Method
- Soak the ground kidney in cold, salted water for 30 minutes to mellow its flavor, then drain well.
- Melt the butter in a heavy pan and cook the onion until soft. Add the ground kidney and beef and cook until browned, breaking it into fine crumbles as it cooks.
- Sprinkle the flour over the meat and stir to coat, then add the stock and Worcestershire sauce. Simmer until thickened into a dense, gravy-bound filling, about 15 minutes. Stir in the thyme and season to taste.
- Cool the filling, then transfer it to a pie dish or individual ramekins and top with puff pastry, sealing the edges and cutting a small vent.
- Brush with egg wash and bake at 400 F until the pastry is deeply golden, about 25 minutes. Rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Substitutions
- Kidney: If kidney's texture isn't for you, a classic steak-and-kidney ratio can be shifted toward more beef and less kidney — it's still a real, traditional pie in those proportions.
- Puff pastry: Shortcrust pastry is the more traditional English topping if puff pastry isn't available.