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Stewed Kidneys

A stew of kidneys, flour-coated and browned, simmered with wine and ketchup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the kidneys in water, then dry them with a towel.

  2. Cut and mince the kidneys finely.

  3. Dredge the minced kidneys with flour.

Cook and stew

  1. In a saucepan, melt a piece of butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the kidneys to the saucepan and cook until browned.

  3. Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper, then add a small amount of boiling water.

  4. Cover the pan and stew until the kidneys are tender.

  5. Stir in some wine and ketchup, then serve hot.

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. Flour + ketchuptop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,435 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Butter + winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  4. Pepper + winetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,066 recipes

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

  5. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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; become tender and succulent during the long, moist stew.
Flour
Coats the kidneys so they brown and thicken the cooking liquid slightly.
Butter
Fat that carries heat for browning and adds richness to the sauce.
Wine
Adds acidity and aroma to the stew liquid.
Ketchup
Contributes sweetness and acidity, deepening the sauce's flavour.

The step that matters

Cook the kidneys until browned before stewing. Browning the flour-dredged kidneys in fat builds flavour through the Maillard reaction. Adding liquid too early would steam them grey and dilute the flavour of the sauce.

“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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