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Stewed Kidneys, with Wdste

A dish of stewed kidneys in a butter and onion gravy with catsup, paprika, salt, browned butter‑flour, and sherry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Stewed Kidneys, with Wdste

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the kidneys

  1. Soak the kidneys in cold water, then slice and wipe them dry.

  2. Roll the kidneys in flour.

Cook and make the gravy

  1. In a saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of butter with a slice of onion until the onion is fried.

  2. Add the kidneys to the saucepan and coat them in the butter for 2 minutes.

  3. Pour in 1 cup of boiling water or heated stock and simmer for 10 to 12 minutes.

  4. Remove the kidneys and place them on a hot dish.

  5. To the gravy, add 1 tablespoon of catsup, a dash of paprika or cayenne, ¼ teaspoon of coarse sea salt, and 1 tablespoon of butter rolled in browned flour.

  6. Bring the gravy to a boil, then stir in ⅓ cup of sherry or claret.

Serve

  1. Pour the gravy over the kidneys and 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.

  1. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Flour + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32,460 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Onion + sherrytop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,352 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetal (cream, earthy).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Kidneys
Main protein, which becomes tender through gentle simmering in the gravy.
Flour
Coats the kidneys and, browned with butter, thickens the gravy.
Butter
Fat that enriches the dish and carries flavour when frying and coating the kidneys.
Sherry or claret
Adds acidity and wine flavour to the gravy.

The step that matters

Simmering the kidneys. Kidneys turn tough and rubbery if overcooked, so they should simmer only briefly in the liquid. Keeping the time short preserves a tender texture.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sherry):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Arrowrootfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sherry. 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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