Name: Beef or Mutton Kidney
Ingredients: Beef or mutton kidneys; Coarse sea salt; Cream; Chopped parsley; Butter

Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Beef or Mutton Kidney

Ingredients

Directions

Parboil the kidneys, changing the water three times and adding a small amount of coarse sea salt to the last water.
Chop the kidneys finely and cook them in enough cream to form a gravy, thickening it as needed.
Add a very small amount of chopped parsley to the gravy.
Halve the smaller kidneys without cutting them completely open.
Heat butter in a dripping pan until it smokes, then add the kidneys, turning constantly until cooked.

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.

Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together28,563 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Beef + parsleytop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,866 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,847 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Beef + creamtop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,128 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).