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Kidney Fritters

Kidney fritters are a savory dish made with eggs, milk, spices, herbs, minced kidney, and butter, fried until browned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Kidney Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. In a bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the milk, pepper, salt, and pounded mace.

  2. Stir in the chives, parsley, mushrooms, minced kidney, and fat.

  3. Beat the mixture for 2‑3 minutes until well combined.

Cook and serve

  1. Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat.

  2. Pour the mixture into the pan and stir until it begins to set.

  3. Once browned on one side, transfer to a hot dish.

  4. Use a salamander or hot shovel to brown the top for 1‑2 minutes.

  5. Serve immediately.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Chive + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Chive + mushroomtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together553 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Pepper + chivetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,885 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set and bind the mixture into a firm, sliceable fritter.
Milk
Adds moisture so the fritter stays tender rather than dry.
Veal kidney
Provides the main savoury flavour and meaty texture of the fritter.
Butter
Fat for the pan that gives the surface a golden browning.

The step that matters

Stir until it begins to set. Egg proteins firm as they heat, so stirring only until just set keeps the fritter tender; overcooking makes it dry and rubbery.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, pepper, chive, parsley, mushroom, veal):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, pepper, chive, parsley, mushroom, veal. 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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