Why it works: Liver and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 28% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,418 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Liver and Bacon
Ingredients
Directions
Wipe the liver and bacon with a damp cloth.
Remove the rind from the bacon.
Pour boiling water over the liver and let it stand for 5 minutes.
Remove the tough skin and veins from the liver.
Wipe the liver with a cloth and roll it in flour.
Heat a frying pan, add the bacon, and cook until brown.
Remove the bacon from the pan.
Pour off excessive fat from the pan and add the liver.
Cook the liver in the frying pan until tender.
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.
-
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
More liver and bacon recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.