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Broiled Kidneys

Broiled Kidneys are sheep kidneys grilled and served on buttered toast with parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Broiled Kidneys

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clean and skin the kidneys.

  2. Melt the butter or lard in a small saucepan, remove from heat, and coat the kidneys in the melted fat.

  3. Preheat the grill and ensure it is clean.

Grill and serve

  1. Grill the kidneys over a bright fire for about three minutes, turning them twice.

  2. Place the kidneys on the hot buttered toast.

  3. If using good butter, mix a small amount with the chopped parsley and place it in the center of each kidney.

  4. Alternatively, use parsley alone.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Sheep's kidneys
Form the main substance of the dish, cooked quickly over high heat.
Butter or lard
Coats the kidneys, carrying moisture and fat that helps them brown on the grill.
Toast
Serves as a base that soaks up juices and fat from the kidneys.
Parsley
Adds fresh, green aroma and flavor to the butter topping.

The step that matters

Grilling over a bright fire for about three minutes. Kidneys are delicate and overcooking them makes them tough and rubbery. A very hot grill browns the outside quickly while keeping the inside tender, so timing and turning them only twice matter.

“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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