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Grilled Kidneys, Indian Style

A dish of grilled kidneys mixed with mushrooms, shallots, spices, and eggs, formed into balls and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Grilled Kidneys, Indian Style

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Remove skin and gristle from the kidneys and chop finely.

  2. Mix with mushrooms, shallots, lemon rind, salt, pepper, nutmeg, thyme, and marjoram.

  3. Add eggs to form a stiff paste.

Shape and coat

  1. Shape the mixture into balls or cork shapes.

  2. Coat with egg and bread crumbs or dip in batter.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry in hot fat or clarified butter until golden.

  2. Drain well, serve on a folded napkin, and garnish with fried parsley.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Lemon + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together957 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Shallot + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,476 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Nutmeg + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together687 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Kidneys
Form the meaty main body of the filling and give the dish its savoury character.
Eggs
Bind the chopped mixture into a stiff paste that holds its shape.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns during frying.
Mushrooms
Add moisture and earthy flavour to the filling.
Shallots
Add mild sweetness and aroma to the filling.

The step that matters

Add eggs to form a stiff paste. Too little egg leaves the chopped mixture crumbly so the balls or cork shapes fall apart, while the egg sets as it heats and holds the filling together during frying.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, shallot, lemon, pepper, thyme, marjoram, egg):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Winter savoryfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, shallot, lemon, pepper, thyme, marjoram, egg. 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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