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Liver Pudding

A savory pudding made from hog trimmings, liver, and seasonings, boiled and stuffed into casings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 342 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Liver Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Clean the head as described under 'Headcheese' and cut off the jowl to salt down.

  2. Boil the head, liver, and any beef or veal available in a kettle.

  3. Place the skin in a cloth sack and boil it with the meat until thoroughly cooked.

  4. Remove the skin and liver once cooked; the meat should cook until it falls from the bones.

Make the filling

  1. Grind all the meat except the skin and liver using a small grinder plate.

  2. Mix 1 gallon of broth with 1 pound of coarse sea salt, 3 ounces of sweet marjoram, and 1 ounce of allspice into the ground meat.

Stuff and cook

  1. Stuff the mixture into jars covered with paraffin or into beef casings.

  2. Cook the stuffed casings in the same water until they float, then cool in cold water.

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. Marjoram + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together342 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + marjoramtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Garlic + marjoramtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together616 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Pepper + garlictop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Hog trimmings
Supply the bulk of the meat and fat that give the pudding its body.
Liver
Adds a rich, deep flavour and softness to the filling.
Skin
Cooked until tender, it adds gelatin that helps the filling set and hold together.
Broth
Carries the seasoning and moisture into the ground meat, keeping the filling moist.
Sweet marjoram
Contributes the herbal aroma that defines the pudding's flavour.
Allspice
Adds warm, aromatic spice notes that complement the rich meat.

The step that matters

Remove the skin and liver once cooked. Overcooked liver turns grainy and bitter, and the skin must be fully tender to release gelatin that helps the filling bind. Pulling each at the right point protects texture and flavour.

Swap the garlic

The recipe marks garlic as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, beef, pepper, marjoram, allspice, meat):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Sagefits better
  3. Winter savoryfits better
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, beef, pepper, marjoram, allspice, meat. 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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