Name: Kidney and Liver Pudding
Ingredients: ¾ pound ox kidney; ¾ pound ox liver; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt; ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper; 2 ounces bacon, chopped; 2 ounces dripping (or cooking fat); ¾ pint water or stock; 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour; pudding crust (for lining the basin)

Why it works: Pepper and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Kidney and Liver Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Cut the kidney and liver into slices and season with salt and cayenne.

Make the filling

Fry the kidney, liver, and bacon in dripping until lightly browned.
Gradually pour in the water or stock mixed with flour.
Line a pudding basin with the crust, then add the meat and gravy when nearly boiling.

Steam

Cover with the lid, pinch the edges securely, and tie the basin in a floured cloth.
Plunge the basin into boiling water and boil for 2.5 hours.

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.

Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together50,459 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Liver + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,375 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Liver + flourtop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,418 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Ox kidney: Provides the main meaty texture and rich, savoury body of the filling.
Ox liver: Adds depth of flavour and a soft, tender texture to the filling.
Bacon: Contributes fat and savoury flavour to the frying stage.
Dripping: Carries heat for browning the meat and adds richness.
All-purpose flour: Thickens the stock into a gravy that binds the filling.

The step that matters

Gradually pour in the water or stock mixed with flour. Adding liquid slowly while the flour is mixed in helps prevent lumps and lets the gravy thicken smoothly as it heats.

“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.

Tomato Soup526 recipes

Brown Bread461 recipes

Mutton Broth292 recipes

Yorkshire Pudding264 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Kidney and Liver Pudding