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Sour Kidney Stew

A stew of small‑cut kidneys simmered in a lard and butter gravy with vinegar for a sour flavor.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Sour Kidney Stew

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a hot skillet, melt the lard and butter.

  2. Rub in enough flour to make a gravy and brown it.

  3. Add boiling water and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.

  4. Add the small-cut kidneys and stew for 20 minutes.

  5. If the gravy boils away, add more boiling water.

  6. Season with salt and pepper.

  7. Before serving, stir in 1 to 3 tablespoons of vinegar.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  3. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  5. Butter + vinegartop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,513 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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, becoming tender as they simmer in the gravy.
Flour
Thickens the liquid into a gravy and browns for added flavor.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the rich, savory gravy.
Lard
Provides fat for browning the flour and building flavor in the skillet.

The step that matters

Browning the flour for the gravy. Flour browned in fat develops nutty, toasted flavor and color; stirring it constantly prevents scorching and lumps before the boiling water is added.

“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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