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Beef Kidney

Slices of beef kidney are fried and served with a gravy made from butter, flour, salt, pepper, and water, flavored with lemon juice, vinegar, or sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Acton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 6 ingredients
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Beef Kidney

Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Beef Kidney

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and fry

  1. Trim and cut the kidney into slices.

  2. Season the slices with salt and pepper, and dredge them well with flour.

  3. Fry the slices on both sides for 6 to 9 minutes until done.

Make the gravy

  1. When done, lift the slices out, empty the pan, and make gravy: add a small slice of butter, a dessert spoonful of flour, pepper, salt, and a cup of boiling water; shake and simmer for a minute.

  2. Add a little mushroom catsup, lemon juice, eschalot vinegar, or any store sauce to flavor.

  3. Optionally, add minced herbs and a small quantity of onion shredded finely if desired.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

123Calories
1 gProtein
12 gFat
5 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
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 Eliza Acton. 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. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  3. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Lemon + vinegartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,334 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Kidney (in the method)
Forms the main meat that is cooked through and served in slices.
Flour (in the method)
Coats the slices so they brown in the pan and thickens the gravy.
Butter
Adds richness and fat to the pan gravy.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich flavor of the gravy.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity to cut the richness of the gravy.

The step that matters

Frying the slices for 6 to 9 minutes. Kidney turns tough and rubbery if overcooked, so the slices should be cooked just until done. Dredging in flour helps them brown, which adds flavor and a crisp surface.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, vinegar):

  1. Lemonthe original
  2. Mangofits about as well
  3. Plumfits about as well
  4. Cherryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, vinegar. 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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