Skip to main content
Main

Stewed Kidneys

A savory stew of sliced sheep kidneys cooked with butter, onion, flour, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, paprika, and optional sherry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Sauce and ketchup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,099 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Stewed Kidneys

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the kidneys into small slices, removing all fat and gristle.

  2. Heat a frying pan until very hot.

  3. Add the butter, then the onion, and brown the onion.

Cook

  1. Add the kidneys and dredge them thoroughly with flour.

  2. Cook the kidneys quickly for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

  3. Add all other ingredients along with the boiling water.

  4. Cook for about 10 minutes.

Finish

  1. Add sherry wine just before serving, if desired.

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. Sauce + ketchuptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,099 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  3. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  4. Tomato + winetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,759 recipes

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

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Kidneys
Main protein that gives the dish its meaty body and texture.
Butter
Fat that carries heat into the pan and helps brown the onion.
Onion
Adds aroma and gentle sweetness as it browns.
Kitchen bouquet
Browning sauce that deepens the colour of the stew.

The step that matters

Cook the kidneys quickly. Searing over high heat with constant stirring browns the surface and keeps the meat tender. Longer cooking tightens muscle proteins and makes kidney tough and rubbery.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sauce, tomato, ketchup, pepper, sherry, wine):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Shallotfits about as well
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sauce, tomato, ketchup, pepper, sherry, wine. 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.

More stewed kidneys recipes

with Wine 3 See all 43 →

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesCream of Tomato SoupCream of Tomato Soup107 recipesTomato BisqueTomato Bisque61 recipesCream Tomato SoupCream Tomato Soup28 recipes