Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Ox Kidneys
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the kidneys
Split the kidneys into two or four pieces and trim off the sinews inside.
Cut into fillets and boil in water with salt for three minutes, then drain.
Make the sauce and cook
Melt butter in a frying pan over medium heat.
Sprinkle in flour while stirring, then add white wine, broth, parsley, salt, and pepper.
Boil for about ten minutes, then add the fillets.
Cook over high heat until done, then dish up.
Add a few drops of lemon juice and serve.
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.
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Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,083 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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White wine + lemontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,832 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ox kidneys
- Form the main body of the dish, cooked until tender in the sauce.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, helping carry flavour through the pan sauce.
- All-purpose flour
- Thickens the pan liquid into a smooth sauce as it is stirred in.
- White wine
- Adds acidity and depth, and reduces during boiling to concentrate flavour.
The step that matters
Boiling the kidneys before the sauce. Boiling the fillets briefly in salted water firms and cleans them before they join the sauce. Overcooking at high heat at the end toughens the meat, so it should be cooked only until done.
“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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