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Kidney Croquettes

Kidney croquettes are fried, breaded kidney pieces coated in a savory gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Rice and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,433 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Kidney Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the kidney

  1. Cut the kidney into slices.

  2. Heat the butter until it begins to brown.

  3. Add the kidney, onion, and herbs; fry for about 2 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally.

  4. Strain the butter into another pan.

  5. Pour the stock and sherry over the kidney.

  6. Simmer slowly for 10 minutes.

  7. Remove from the pan and mince finely.

Make the filling

  1. Add ham and a dust of minced parsley.

  2. Add the flour to half the gravy and stir until smooth and thick.

  3. Boil for 3 minutes.

  4. Add the kidneys, yolk of egg, and seasoning.

  5. Spread on a plate until cold.

Shape, fry and serve

  1. Form into cork shapes.

  2. Brush with the beaten whole egg.

  3. Roll in bread crumbs.

  4. Fry in hot fat.

  5. Garnish with cut lemons and parsley.

  6. Add glaze to the remaining gravy.

  7. Season.

  8. Serve in a tureen.

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. Rice + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + ricetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

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

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,505 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 main body of the croquettes and gives them their meaty flavour and texture.
Rice flour
Thickens the gravy so the filling becomes smooth and firm enough to shape.
Egg yolk
Binds the minced kidney mixture so it holds together when shaped.
Whole egg
Forms a coating that helps the bread crumbs stick to the shapes.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, browned outer crust when the croquettes are fried.
Butter
Adds richness and a nutty flavour when browned at the start.

The step that matters

Spread on a plate until cold. The filling must set firmly before shaping; if it is still warm or soft, the croquettes will lose their shape and may break apart in the hot fat.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, rice, flour, egg, butter, sherry, ham):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, rice, flour, egg, butter, sherry, ham. 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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