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To Dress Beef Kidney

Sliced beef kidney cooked in a flavored gravy with lemon juice, sugar, sherry, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Isabella Beeton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 14 ingredients
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To Dress Beef Kidney

Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

To Dress Beef Kidney

3 persons

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the kidney

  1. Cut the kidneys into neat slices.

  2. Soak the slices in warm water for 2 hours, changing the water 2 or 3 times.

  3. Dry the slices on a clean cloth.

Fry and season

  1. Lay the slices in a frying pan with clarified butter and fry until a nice brown.

  2. Season each side with pepper and salt.

  3. Arrange the slices around the dish and place the gravy in the middle.

  4. Before pouring the gravy, add lemon juice and sugar.

  5. Remove a little kidney fat, mince finely, and put in a frying pan.

  6. Slice the kidney, sprinkle parsley and shalots over it.

  7. Season with pepper and salt, and fry until a nice brown.

  8. When done, dredge over a little flour.

  9. Pour in the gravy and sherry.

  10. Let it simmer just, not boil.

  11. Serve hot, garnish with croûtons.

Alternative method

  1. Cut the kidney into thin slices, flour them, and fry until a nice brown.

  2. Make a gravy in the pan by pouring away the fat, adding a small piece of butter, 1/4 pint of boiling water, pepper, salt, and a tablespoonful of mushroom ketchup.

  3. Let the gravy just boil up, pour over the kidney, and serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

220Calories
4 gProtein
12 gFat
22 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Mushroom1/2 cup sliced (35g)15
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Isabella Beeton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Sherry + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  5. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

What each ingredient does

Kidney
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender when soaked and browned when fried.
Sherry
Adds acidity and aroma to the gravy as it simmers.
Mushroom ketchup
Adds savoury depth and umami flavour to the gravy.
Lemon-juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich gravy.
Powdered sugar
Balances the sharpness of the lemon juice and the savouriness of the gravy.

The step that matters

Let the gravy simmer just, not boil. Kidney turns tough and rubbery when overcooked, and a hard boil can also break up the flour-thickened gravy. Gentle heat keeps the meat tender and the sauce smooth.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, sugar, sherry, butter, mushroom, ketchup, pepper):

  1. Thymefits about as well
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Celeryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, sugar, sherry, butter, mushroom, ketchup, pepper. 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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