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Broiled Kidneys

Kidneys are broiled, then filled with parsley and butter, seasoned, and served with lemon juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Broiled Kidneys

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Skin and split the kidneys without separating them.

  2. Run a skewer through the kidneys.

Broil and serve

  1. Broil the kidneys on a sharp stove, starting with the inside.

  2. Turn the kidneys and cook until done.

  3. Place the kidneys on a hot dish.

  4. Remove the skewer.

  5. Fill each kidney with chopped parsley mixed with butter, seasoned with pepper, salt, and cayenne.

  6. Squeeze lemon juice over the kidneys before serving.

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. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

  4. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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, cooked through by broiling over direct heat.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the filling as it melts into the kidneys.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich kidney and butter flavour.

The step that matters

Broil the kidneys until done. Kidneys are easy to overcook, which makes them tough and dry. Cooking on a sharp, high heat and turning them helps brown the outside while the centre cooks through.

“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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