Name: Mutton Kidneys, Stewed, with Wine
Ingredients: 2 veal kidneys or 4 sheep's kidneys; 2 tablespoons butter; ½ cup champagne, sherry, or any light wine; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt; ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper; 2 teaspoons ketchup; 2 teaspoons good stock

Why it works: Butter and champagne work together. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 209 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Mutton Kidneys, Stewed, with Wine

Ingredients

2 veal kidneys or 4 sheep's kidneys
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup champagne, sherry, or any light wine
¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons ketchup
2 teaspoons good stock

Directions

Cook the kidneys

Slice the kidneys and fry them in butter until browned on both sides.
Drain the kidneys from the butter and place them in a clean saucepan.

Stew and serve

Pour the wine over the kidneys and add salt, cayenne, ketchup, and stock.
Simmer gently until tender, about 15 minutes.
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.

Butter + champagnetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together209 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,049 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Champagne + peppertop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together280 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Veal + buttertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,381 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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 dish, becoming tender when simmered gently in liquid.
Butter: Fat for frying that browns the kidney surfaces and adds rich flavour.
Wine: Adds acidity and aroma to the stewing liquid, helping to flavour the kidneys.
Ketchup: Adds sweetness and tang to the stewing liquid.
Stock: Provides moisture and savoury depth to the simmering sauce.

The step that matters

Simmer gently until tender. High heat makes kidney proteins contract and toughen, so a gentle simmer keeps the meat tender and juicy.

“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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Mutton Kidneys, Stewed, with Wine