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Kidney Pudding

A savory pudding made from minced mutton kidneys, suet, bread crumbs, milk, egg, and herbs, baked until set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Kidney Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the mixture

  1. In a basin, combine the minced kidneys, minced suet, and bread crumbs.

  2. Add the chopped parsley, thyme, nutmeg, salt, and pepper; mix well.

  3. Stir in the milk and beaten egg until fully combined.

Bake

  1. Transfer the mixture into a greased baking dish.

  2. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30-40 minutes, or until set and golden.

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 + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

  3. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  4. Thyme + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,907 recipes

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

  5. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 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

Mutton kidneys
Provide the main meaty body and flavour of the pudding.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the milk and egg to give the pudding its soft, bound body.
Egg
Sets when baked, holding the pudding together as it firms.
Milk
Moistens the crumbs and keeps the pudding tender as it bakes.
Suet
Adds richness and fat, contributing to a moist, savoury texture.

The step that matters

Baking until set. The egg sets as it heats, so the pudding should be baked until firm and golden rather than pulled early. Underbaked egg stays loose and wet in the centre, while overbaking can make it dry and tough.

Swap the thyme

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, bread, milk, egg, parsley, nutmeg, pepper):

  1. Marjoramfits about as well
  2. Cinnamonfits about as well
  3. Thymethe original
  4. Allspicefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, bread, milk, egg, parsley, nutmeg, 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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