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Mutton Kidneys and Bacon

A dish of fried mutton kidneys served with bacon and fine herbs sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Mutton and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,087 recipes. Both carry decanoic acid, which smells soapy, waxy. The science ↓

Mutton Kidneys and Bacon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Skin and cut the kidneys in half.

  2. Dip the kidneys in egg and breadcrumbs.

Cook

  1. Fry the bacon in a frying pan until cooked, then remove it.

  2. In the same pan, fry the kidneys until they are a nice light brown.

Serve

  1. Serve the kidneys and bacon alternately in an entree dish.

  2. Add a spoonful of Fine Herbs Sauce for each person around the dish.

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. Mutton + saucetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,087 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (soapy, waxy).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton kidneys
Form the main body of the dish, with a tender, rich meaty texture when cooked briefly.
Egg and breadcrumbs (in the method)
Egg binds the breadcrumb coating, which then browns in the pan and gives a crisp exterior.
Bacon
Adds salty, savoury fat that flavours the pan and complements the kidneys.

The step that matters

Frying the kidneys until light brown. Kidneys turn tough and rubbery if overcooked. A short, moderate fry sets the crumb coating and keeps the centre tender, so watch the colour rather than the clock.

“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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