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Stewed Kidneys, with Wine

A stew of kidneys simmered in wine and stock, flavored with onions, catsup, paprika, and browned butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Stewed Kidneys, with Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the kidneys

  1. Soak kidneys in cold water.

  2. Slice kidneys and wipe them dry.

  3. Roll kidneys in flour.

Cook and make the gravy

  1. Heat a little butter in a saucepan.

  2. Fry a slice of onion.

  3. Add kidneys to the saucepan and coat them in butter for 2 minutes.

  4. Pour in 1 cup of boiling water or heated stock and simmer for 10-12 minutes.

  5. Remove kidneys and place them on a hot dish.

  6. To the gravy, add 1 tablespoon catsup, a dash of paprika or cayenne, ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt, and 1 tablespoon butter rolled in browned flour.

  7. Bring gravy to a boil, then stir in ⅓ cup sherry or claret.

Serve

  1. Pour gravy over kidneys and serve.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Flour + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32,460 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Onion + sherrytop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,352 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetal (cream, earthy).

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

Kidneys
The main protein, which is floured and browned before simmering in the gravy.
Flour
Coats the kidneys and thickens the gravy as it cooks in the butter.
Butter
Adds richness and helps brown the floured kidneys and onion.
Sherry or claret
Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the finished gravy.

The step that matters

Coating the kidneys in butter and simmering. Floured kidneys need enough gentle heat and time in the fat to brown slightly and firm up. Simmering too hard or too long can toughen the meat and make the gravy stick or scorch.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Arrowrootfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sherry. 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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