Name: Beef-kidney Stewed
Ingredients: 1 small onion, peeled and sliced; 1 beef kidney, cut into small slices; 2 tablespoons butter; 1 tablespoon flour; 1 pint boiling water; Coarse sea salt to taste; Black pepper to taste; 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley; ⅓ cup Madeira wine (or 2 tablespoons table sauce or vinegar if unavailable)

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 ↓

Beef-kidney Stewed

Ingredients

1 small onion, peeled and sliced
1 beef kidney, cut into small slices
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 pint boiling water
Coarse sea salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
⅓ cup Madeira wine (or 2 tablespoons table sauce or vinegar if unavailable)

Directions

In a frying pan, melt the butter over medium heat.
Add the sliced onion and beef kidney; brown the kidney.
Dust the kidney with flour and stir until the flour is brown.
Pour in the boiling water and season with salt and pepper. Stew gently for 10 minutes.
Add the chopped parsley and Madeira wine, then serve.

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 + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,843 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beef kidney: Forms the main body of the stew, becoming tender with gentle simmering.
Flour: Browned with the kidney, it thickens the liquid and adds a toasted flavour.
Butter: Fat for browning the kidney and onion, adding richness and flavour.
Onion: Softens and sweetens as it cooks, adding savoury depth to the stew.
Madeira wine: Adds sweetness and complex aroma; vinegar or table sauce can substitute for acidity.

The step that matters

Browning the kidney. Searing the kidney before adding liquid builds deep flavour through browning. Stirring the flour until it is brown toasts it, which adds colour and flavour and helps thicken the stew.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, flour, pepper, parsley, madeira wine):

Shallotfits better
Carrotfits better
Chivefits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, flour, pepper, parsley, madeira wine. 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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Beef-kidney Stewed