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Kidney Pie

A savory pie made with calf kidney, kidney fat, cold tongue or ham, spices, eggs, yolks, macaroons, and gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,526 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Kidney Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA gentle oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a gentle oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

  1. Slice the fresh calf's kidney and toss it over a clear fire without drawing the gravy.

  2. Beat the kidney fat with an equal weight of cold tongue, ham, or Bologna sausage in a mortar, seasoning with spices.

  3. Form the mixture into forcemeat balls using the eggs.

Assemble and bake

  1. Layer the sliced kidney in a dish or crust, add the forcemeat, hard-boiled yolks, and soaked macaroons.

  2. Sprinkle in some spices and pour in enough gravy.

  3. Bake for 1 hour at 350°F (175°C).

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. Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

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

  2. Ham + madeira winetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together154 recipes
  3. Egg + madeira winetop 38% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together445 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's kidney
Forms the meaty base of the pie and gives it its main flavour.
Eggs
Bind the forcemeat so it holds together in balls rather than crumbling.
Kidney fat
Adds richness and moisture to the forcemeat as it is beaten with the meat.
Cold tongue, ham, or bologna sausage
Supplies savoury body and seasoning to the forcemeat along with the kidney fat.
Sweet macaroons
Soak up Madeira and gravy, adding sweetness and a soft, moist texture.

The step that matters

Pour in enough gravy. Gravy keeps the filling moist during baking, since lean kidney dries out and toughens with heat. Too little leaves the pie dry; the gravy should be added before baking so it cooks into the filling.

“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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