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Stewed Kidneys

A stew of kidneys simmered in a seasoned sauce and served over mashed potatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Stewed Kidneys

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the kidneys

  1. Place the kidneys in boiling water for a few minutes, then remove the skin, cut them in half, and remove the core.

  2. Wipe the kidneys, lightly flour them, and fry in hot dripping for six minutes.

  3. Set aside.

Make the sauce

  1. In the same pan, add enough clarified dripping to make 1½ ounces and fry 1 ounce of chopped onion until light brown.

  2. Stir in 1 ounce of flour and 1 ounce of cornflour.

  3. Gradually pour in 1 pint of stock or water while stirring until smooth and thick.

  4. Season the sauce with salt, pepper, nutmeg, 2 teaspoons of tomato sauce, 1 teaspoon of Harvey sauce, and browning to achieve a rich color.

Stew and serve

  1. Strain the sauce into a stewpan, add the kidneys, cover, and cook in boiling water for two hours, replenishing the water as needed.

  2. Serve the kidneys inside a wall of mashed potatoes, pouring the sauce over them.

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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  5. Nutmeg + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,052 recipes

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

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 stew, becoming tender during the long, gentle cooking.
All-purpose flour
Thickens the sauce together with the cornflour, giving it a smooth body.
Cornflour
Adds thickening power so the sauce becomes smooth and thick when liquid is added.
Chopped onion
Fried until light brown, it adds savoury sweetness and aroma to the sauce base.
Clarified dripping
Fat for frying that carries flavour and helps the kidneys and onion brown.
Tomato sauce
Adds acidity and savoury depth to the sauce.

The step that matters

Simmering the kidneys in the sauce. Kidneys turn tough or rubbery if cooked too hard or too fast. Keeping the liquid at a gentle simmer, and topping up the water, lets the meat become tender over the long cook.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, onion, flour, tomato, sauce, potato):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, onion, flour, tomato, sauce, potato. 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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