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Beef Kidney

Beef kidney slices sautéed and simmered in a gravy of flour, wine, and butter, served with fried bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Beef Kidney

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 ↓

Beef Kidney

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Slice the kidney thinly, removing the skin and fat.

  2. Season with pepper, coarse sea salt, grated nutmeg, and minced parsley (or parsley and shallots).

Cook and serve

  1. Fry the slices over high heat until browned on both sides.

  2. Stir in the flour.

  3. Gradually add the gravy and white wine.

  4. Bring the sauce to a boil.

  5. Add the butter and lemon juice.

  6. Serve in a hot dish garnished with fried bread.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Pepper + parsleytop 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. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  5. Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beef kidney
Is the main protein, browned in the pan to develop savoury flavour on the surface.
Flour
Thickens the pan juices and gravy into a smooth, lightly body-rich sauce.
Gravy
Forms the liquid base of the sauce and carries the flavour through the dish.
White wine
Adds acidity and depth to the sauce as it reduces with the gravy.
Lemon juice
Brightens the sauce with acidity, balancing the richness of the kidney and butter.
Butter
Adds fat and a glossy finish to the finished sauce.

The step that matters

Fry the slices over high heat until browned on both sides. Kidney cooks quickly and turns tough and rubbery if overcooked. High heat browns the surface through the Maillard reaction, adding flavour before the interior sets.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, parsley, flour, white wine, lemon, butter. 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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