Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Liver Hash
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Cut the cold liver into small pieces.
In a pan, cook the butter and flour together until brown.
Add the cold water, salt, and pepper; bring to a boil.
Cook and serve
Once boiling, add the liver and cook gently for 20 minutes.
Stir in the lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce.
Serve very hot.
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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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Butter
- Adds richness and, cooked with flour, builds a browned, nutty flavour.
- Flour
- Thickens the cooking liquid into a light sauce once combined with the water.
- Liver
- Provides the main body and savoury, meaty flavour of the hash.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich, savoury flavours.
The step that matters
Cook the butter and flour until brown. Browning the roux gives the hash a nutty, deeper flavour. Pale or underdone flour leaves a raw taste and weaker colour, and the sauce may not thicken evenly when the water is added.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, butter, flour, pepper, sauce):
- Lemonthe original
- Limefits about as well
- Plumfits less well
- Grapefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against liver, butter, flour, pepper, sauce. 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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