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Bucaned Beef Kidneys

A preserved beef kidney dish cured with parsley, eschalots, sea salt, and olive oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and olive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,649 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Bucaned Beef Kidneys

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the kidneys

  1. Cut the beef kidneys open lengthwise and remove the pipes and skins.

  2. Place the kidneys in a deep dish and pour boiling water over them.

  3. After 2 hours, remove the kidneys and dry them with cloths.

Cure

  1. Rub the kidneys well with parsley and eschalots.

  2. Sprinkle the kidneys with coarse sea salt.

  3. Rub the kidneys twice a day for 2 days.

  4. Turn the kidneys twice a day for 2 days.

Dry and season

  1. Hang the kidneys in a brisk air current for 24 hours.

  2. Rub the kidneys with olive oil 3 to 4 times during the 24 hours.

  3. Hang the kidneys to dry again.

  4. Subject the kidneys to gentle heat for 48 hours until slightly shriveled.

Preserve in oil

  1. Once cooled, coat the kidneys with gelatine or cut into pieces and cover with olive oil in pots.

  2. Wait 2 days.

  3. Refill the kidneys with oil.

  4. Tie a wetted bladder over the kidneys.

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. Parsley + olivetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,649 recipes

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

  2. Beef + olivetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,220 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  3. Beef + parsleytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,866 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beef kidneys
Form the main body of the dish, becoming firm and concentrated as they dry.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and preserves the kidneys during the curing stage.
Olive oil
Coats the kidneys to slow drying and keep them moist in storage.
Parsley
Adds fresh herbal aroma to the rub applied during curing.
Eschalots
Add a mild onion flavour to the rub applied during curing.

The step that matters

Drying in a brisk air current. Air must dry the surface evenly while the salt cures the interior. Uneven or damp drying can let spoilage start, so the kidneys should be turned and oiled as directed.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, olive):

  1. Rosemaryfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, olive. 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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