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Stuffed Kidneys

A dish of kidneys filled with a breadcrumb, parsley, onion, and butter mixture, broiled and served hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Stuffed Kidneys

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the kidneys

  1. Split the kidneys nearly through and dip them in melted butter.

  2. Broil on a greased grill for 8 minutes.

Make the stuffing

  1. Combine breadcrumbs, parsley, parboiled onion, and butter in a saucepan.

  2. Season the mixture well.

  3. Heat the mixture.

  4. Add the lemon juice to the stuffing mixture.

Stuff and serve

  1. Stuff the kidneys with some of the mixture, pour a little melted butter over them, and serve 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. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Kidneys
Form the main body of the dish, carrying the stuffing and browning on the grill.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and helps the kidneys brown and stay juicy.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb butter and juices, giving the stuffing a soft, cohesive texture.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich kidneys and stuffing.

The step that matters

Broil on a greased grill for 8 minutes. Kidneys are delicate and overcook quickly, becoming tough and rubbery. Brief, high heat sears the outside while keeping the inside tender, so watch them closely.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, parsley, lemon, pepper):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, parsley, lemon, 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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