Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Kidney, Stewed
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the kidney into slices about ½ inch thick and remove the core.
Heat the beef dripping in a stewpan.
Season a tablespoon of flour with 1 teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of pepper.
Brown and stew
Dip the kidney slices in the flour mixture and fry in the hot fat until browned on both sides, adding the onion to fry as well.
Drain the fat, add 1 pint of nearly boiling water, and season with a little salt and pepper.
Cover closely and simmer very slowly for 1 hour.
Thicken and serve
Knead the butter and flour together until smooth, then add it in small portions to the stewpan.
Cook for an additional 20 minutes or until the kidney is tender.
Arrange the kidney slices on a hot dish, season the sauce to taste, and strain it over the kidney.
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.
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter and flour 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
- Ox kidney
- Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender through long slow simmering.
- Beef dripping
- Fat for frying that browns the flour-coated kidney slices and adds savoury flavour.
- Flour
- Coats the kidney for browning and, kneaded with butter, thickens the sauce.
- Butter
- Kneaded with flour to form a roux-style paste that enriches and thickens the sauce.
- Onion
- Fries with the kidney, adding sweetness and aroma to the stewing liquid.
The step that matters
Simmer very slowly with the lid closed. Kidney is tough and becomes tender only with long, gentle heat. A rapid boil toughens the meat and can make the sauce cloudy, so keep the liquid barely moving under a tight cover.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, flour, pepper):
- Potatofits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
- Leekfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, flour, pepper. 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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