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Kidney Omelet

A savory omelet with mutton kidneys, gravy, sherry, and lemon or orange juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Kidney Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the kidneys

  1. Wash the kidneys, remove sinews, and slice them.

  2. Cover with slightly salted water and let stand for 6 hours, then drain and parboil briefly.

  3. In a frying pan, heat a pat of butter and add the kidneys, cooking them evenly.

  4. Add gravy, sherry, salt, pepper, and a little lemon or orange juice, then set aside.

Make and fill the omelet

  1. In a bowl, break the eggs and check for freshness, then beat with milk just before cooking.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into a hot pan and cook until it begins to set.

  3. Remove from heat, slide a knife under the omelet to prevent sticking, and prepare to fold.

  4. Before folding, add the cooked kidneys and pour the sauce around the omelet.

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 + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,505 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Sherry + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,479 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  5. Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into the structure of the omelet as they cook, holding it together.
Mutton kidneys
Provide the main savory filling and meaty texture of the dish.
Gravy
Adds moisture and savory flavour to the kidneys and sauce.
Butter
Adds richness and helps brown the kidneys and keep the pan surface from sticking.
Milk
Loosens the beaten eggs, giving the omelet a softer, more tender texture.

The step that matters

Pour the egg mixture into a hot pan and cook until it begins to set. Eggs cook quickly and turn tough if overcooked. Pouring into a hot pan sets the surface fast, while removing it once just set keeps the omelet tender and prevents sticking.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, butter, sherry, pepper, egg, milk):

  1. Lemonthe original
  2. Figfits about as well
  3. Plumfits about as well
  4. Grapefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, butter, sherry, pepper, egg, milk. 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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