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Deviled Kidneys

A dish of sliced kidneys marinated in oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, mustard, and cayenne, then broiled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Deviled Kidneys

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the coating

  1. In a bowl, mix the oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and mustard.

  2. Dip the sliced kidneys in the mixture.

Broil and serve

  1. Broil the kidneys until cooked through.

  2. Sprinkle with cayenne pepper before serving.

  3. Serve with plenty of water.

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. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  3. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 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

Oil
Carries the seasonings and adds fat, helping keep the kidneys moist while they broil.
Vinegar
Adds acidity, giving the coating a sharp tang that balances the richness of the kidneys.
Mustard
Adds sharp flavour and helps the oil and vinegar blend into a more cohesive coating.

The step that matters

Broil the kidneys until cooked through. Kidneys turn tough and rubbery when overcooked, while undercooked kidneys are unsafe to eat. Watching them closely under the broiler keeps them tender and fully cooked.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardthe original
  3. Cabbagefits about as well
  4. Cucumberfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, pepper. 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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