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Pate of Liver

A liver pâté made with diced calf liver, fat salt pork, onion, truffles, and stock, then chilled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Liver and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,606 recipes. Both carry 1-nonanal, which smells fatty, waxy. The science ↓

Pate of Liver

Ingredients

Directions

Cook and sieve

  1. In a hot skillet, fry the liver, pork, and onion for 4 minutes, shaking constantly.

  2. Pound the mixture and pass it through a wire sieve while hot.

  3. Add the chopped truffles and stock, then beat the mixture for 10 minutes.

Set

  1. Place the mixture in a mold and refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours until set.

  2. Add jelly to the mold before the mixture.

Whip and finish

  1. Whip ½ pint of clear consomme or chicken broth until light and spongy.

  2. Mix the whipped liquid with 1 pint of stiff whipped cream, cayenne pepper, and a pinch of salt.

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. Liver + porktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,606 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).

  2. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

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

  3. Pork + truffletop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethylphenol (must).

  4. Liver + truffletop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together395 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).

  5. Liver + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,420 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's liver
Forms the main body of the pâté and gives it a rich, firm texture.
Fat salt pork
Adds fat for moisture and a smooth, rich mouthfeel.
Onion
Adds savoury aroma and mild sweetness as it cooks in the fat.
Truffles
Contribute a strong earthy aroma that defines the flavour of the pâté.
Stock
Adds liquid that moistens the mixture and carries its savoury flavour.

The step that matters

Pound and sieve while hot. Warm cooked liver and pork are soft enough to press smoothly through a sieve. As they cool they firm up, making the mixture harder to pass through and leaving it less smooth.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, pork, truffle):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Onionthe original
  4. Tomatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, pork, truffle. 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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