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Stewed Kidneys

A stew of kidneys simmered in a spiced sauce, served over mashed potatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Stewed Kidneys

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the kidneys

  1. Boil the kidneys in water for a few minutes.

  2. Remove the skin and core.

  3. Cut the kidneys in half and wipe them dry.

  4. Lightly flour the kidneys.

  5. Fry them in hot dripping for 6 minutes.

  6. Set aside.

Make the sauce

  1. In the same pan, add enough clarified dripping to make 1½ ounces.

  2. Fry the chopped onion until light brown.

  3. Stir in the flour and cornflour.

  4. Gradually add the stock or water while stirring until the sauce is smooth and thick.

  5. Season the sauce with salt, pepper, nutmeg, tomato sauce, Harvey sauce, and browning to achieve a rich color.

  6. Strain the sauce into a stewpan.

Stew and serve

  1. Add the kidneys.

  2. Place the stewpan in boiling water.

  3. Cover and cook for 2 hours, replenishing water as needed.

  4. Serve the kidneys inside a wall of mashed potatoes and pour the sauce over them.

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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  5. Nutmeg + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,052 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

Kidneys
The main meat, which becomes tender during the long, gentle stew.
All-purpose flour
Thickens the sauce together with the cornflour as it cooks with the fat.
Cornflour
Adds thickening power so the sauce becomes smooth and glossy.
Clarified dripping
Provides fat for frying the kidneys and onion, adding rich flavor.
Chopped onion
Adds savory sweetness and aroma as it browns in the fat.
Tomato sauce
Adds acidity and savory depth to the sauce.

The step that matters

Thicken the sauce smooth before adding stock. Flour and cornflour must be cooked in the fat and blended with the liquid gradually while stirring, otherwise lumps form and the sauce cannot thicken evenly.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, onion, flour, tomato, sauce, potato):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, onion, flour, tomato, sauce, potato. 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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