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Mutton Kidneys, Broiled

Broiled mutton kidneys served on buttered toast with a mustard‑cayenne butter mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,430 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mutton Kidneys, Broiled

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the kidneys

  1. Skin the kidneys and open them lengthwise until the fat is reached; keep them open with a skewer.

  2. Season the kidneys with salt and pepper.

  3. Broil the kidneys on the cut side for 3 minutes to preserve the gravy.

Make the mustard butter

  1. Knead together 1 ounce of butter, 1 teaspoon of mustard, and cayenne to taste.

  2. Moisten the mixture with 1 teaspoon of Harvey sauce.

Assemble and serve

  1. Prepare a round of buttered toast.

  2. Remove the skewers and place the kidneys on the toast, adding a piece of butter, cayenne, and salt on each.

  3. Spread the mixture over the toast and serve hot.

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 + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Mustard + saucetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,120 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

  5. Butter + mustardtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,003 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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

Sheep's kidneys
Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender and savoury when broiled.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the kidneys and the mustard mixture.
Mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavour that cuts through the richness of the kidneys and butter.
Harvey sauce
Moistens the mixture and adds savoury, tangy depth of flavour.
Toast
Provides a crisp base that soaks up the juices from the broiled kidneys.

The step that matters

Broil the kidneys on the cut side for 3 minutes. Kidneys become tough and rubbery if overcooked, and a short, hot broil on the cut side keeps them tender and juicy while sealing in their gravy.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits about as well
  3. Mustardthe original
  4. Shallotfits about as well

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