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Kidneys Saute

Sautéed kidneys served over toast with a tomato sauce and water mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and ketchup are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,435 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Kidneys Saute

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Slice the kidneys about ¼ inch thick.

  2. Dip each piece into flour.

  3. Cut bacon into thin strips.

Cook

  1. Heat a little hot fat in a tin.

  2. Frizzle the strips in the hot fat.

  3. Add the kidneys to the hot fat.

  4. Cook for 4-5 minutes, turning occasionally.

  5. Pour off excess fat.

  6. Sprinkle with pepper and coarse sea salt.

  7. Add 1 tablespoon of ketchup or tomato sauce.

  8. Add 1 tablespoon of boiling water, stir together.

Serve

  1. Pour the mixture over a slice of hot toast.

  2. Serve immediately.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Pepper + ketchuptop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,207 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Kidneys
The main ingredient, sliced thin so it cooks quickly in the hot fat.
Flour
Coats the kidney slices, helping them brown in the hot fat.
Bacon
Frizzled in the fat to add savoury, smoky flavour to the dish.
Ketchup or tomato sauce
Adds sweetness and acidity to the pan mixture.

The step that matters

Cook for 4-5 minutes, turning occasionally. Kidneys cook quickly and become tough and rubbery if overcooked, so timing matters. Turning helps both sides brown evenly without drying out.

“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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