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Stewed Kidneys in Cans

A preserved stew of kidneys, suet, onions, and spices canned in a seasoned broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,626 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Stewed Kidneys in Cans

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the kidneys

  1. Trim kidneys free from fat and cut into 1-inch pieces.

  2. Soak kidneys in cold water overnight, then drain and cook for 10 minutes.

  3. Remove kidneys and place in cold water.

Make the filling and soup

  1. In a large kettle, combine cooked kidneys, suet, onions, flour, salt, and pepper. Stir until well cooked.

  2. Prepare soup by mixing jelly, flour (for batter), mushroom catsup, salt, and curry powder. Boil until combined and color with caramel.

Can and process

  1. In 2-pound cans, place 1 pound 10 ounces of kidneys and fill to 2 pounds 1 ounce with soup.

  2. Seal cans, place on trays, and process in a retort at 3 pounds pressure for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

  3. Shut off steam and slowly release pressure.

  4. Quickly stop vents on cans.

  5. Return cans to retort and boil for 1 hour and 45 minutes at 7 pounds pressure.

  6. Remove cans and cool them in a shower room before labeling.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Onion + flourtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32,460 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + mushroomtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,253 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. White pepper + mushroomtop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together648 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl butyrate (fruity, apple).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Kidneys
Form the main body of the stew, providing the meaty texture of the finished filling.
Kidney suet
Adds fat that enriches the filling and keeps it moist through cooking and processing.
Flour
Thickens the filling and soup so they hold together rather than running thin.
Onions
Add savory sweetness and aroma as they cook down into the filling.
Curry powder
Contributes warm, aromatic spice flavor to the soup.
Mushroom catsup
Adds deep savory, umami flavor to the soup.

The step that matters

Pressure processing in the retort. Canned low-acid foods must be held at sufficient heat and pressure for the full time to destroy harmful microbes. Shortening or skipping this step risks an unsafe, spoiled product, so times and pressures must be followed exactly.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, flour, mushroom, sugar):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Jalapenofits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, flour, mushroom, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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