Skip to main content
Main

Devilled Kidneys

A seasoned kidney prepared by grilling on a skewer and serving on toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Pepper and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,430 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Devilled Kidneys

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mix the salt, cayenne, butter, and mustard together in a bowl.

  2. Split each kidney open and remove the core from each kidney.

  3. Take off the thin outer skin of each kidney.

  4. Soak the kidneys in tepid water for 10 minutes.

  5. Run a skewer through each kidney lengthwise and keep the kidneys flat.

Grill and serve

  1. Spread a little of the mixture on each kidney.

  2. Grill the kidneys over a clear fire for 8 minutes, turning constantly.

  3. Remove the skewers from the kidneys.

  4. Place each kidney on a square of toast.

  5. Serve as hot as possible.

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. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

  3. Butter + mustardtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,003 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Kidneys (in the method)
Form the main body of the dish, and their mild, rich flavour carries the seasoning.
Butter
Adds fat and moisture so the mixture spreads easily and keeps the kidneys from drying out.
Mixed mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavour that cuts through the richness of the kidneys and butter.
Cayenne pepper
Adds gentle heat that gives the spread a warm, peppery bite.

The step that matters

Grill over a clear fire, turning constantly. Kidneys are delicate and overcook quickly, becoming tough and dry. A clear, hot fire sears the surface, and constant turning spreads the heat evenly so the butter mixture stays moist and the interior cooks through without burning.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, 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.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes