Why it works: Flour and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Livee and Bacon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pour boiling water over the liver slices and immediately drain.
Dredge the liver slices with flour and season with pepper.
Cook
Fry the bacon in a pan, turning often until crisp, then remove from fat and place on a hot dish.
Fry the liver slowly in the hot fat, turning frequently.
Serve
Arrange the liver and bacon on a serving dish, alternating slices.
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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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Liver + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,375 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Liver + flourtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,418 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Liver
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking to a tender interior when fried gently.
- Bacon
- Adds salty, savoury fat and crisp texture that flavours the frying pan.
- Flour
- Coats the liver slices so they brown in the fat and develop a light crust.
The step that matters
Fry the liver slowly in the hot fat. Liver turns dry and rubbery if cooked too hard or too long. Gentle heat with frequent turning cooks it through while keeping it tender and evenly browned.
“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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