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To Stew Beef-kidneys

A stew made from sliced beef kidneys simmered with onions, stock, vinegar, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

To Stew Beef-kidneys

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the kidney

  1. Cut the kidney into slices, removing all tubes and passages.

  2. Wash and dry the slices, then dust them with flour.

Stew and serve

  1. In a stew pan, combine the kidney, stock, minced onions, vinegar, pepper, and salt.

  2. Stew slowly for three hours.

  3. Add mushroom ketchup before serving 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. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  5. Flour + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32,460 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Ox kidney
Forms the main body of the stew and becomes tender during slow cooking.
Flour
Dusting the slices helps thicken the stewing liquid as it cooks.
Stock
Provides the cooking liquid that keeps the kidney moist during the long stew.
Onions
Add savory sweetness and body to the stewing liquid as they soften.
Ketchup
Adds tangy, savory depth to the finished stew.

The step that matters

Stew slowly for three hours. Gentle, prolonged simmering breaks down the connective tissue in kidney, so it turns tender rather than tough and rubbery. Rapid boiling toughens the meat.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, ketchup, vinegar, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Horseradishfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, ketchup, vinegar, pepper. 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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