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Kidneys with Mushrooms

A stew of kidneys and mushrooms seasoned with pepper and sea salt, garnished with fried bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Kidneys with Mushrooms

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Dry the dried champignons in a cloth or prepare fresh mushrooms.

  2. Soak the dried mushrooms in tepid water for 10 minutes.

Cook

  1. In a stewpan, melt the butter and add the mushrooms.

  2. Stir constantly for 6 minutes.

  3. Cut the kidneys into small dice and add to the pan.

  4. Cook slowly while stirring until the kidneys are done.

  5. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt just before serving.

Serve

  1. Garnish with fried slices of bread and serve hot.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Mushroom + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Kidneys
Provide the main meaty substance, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks.
Button mushrooms
Add earthy flavour and moisture that releases into the butter as they cook.
Dried mushrooms
Concentrate deep mushroom flavour once rehydrated in water.
Butter
Carries the cooking and adds richness and a rounded, nutty flavour.

The step that matters

Cook the kidneys slowly while stirring. Kidneys turn tough and rubbery when overcooked at high heat, so gentle cooking keeps them tender while they firm 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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