Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓
Liver Sausage
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the liver
Remove the membrane and cut away the large blood vessels from the liver.
Soak the liver in water for 1 to 2 hours to draw out blood.
Boil the liver until fully cooked.
Once cooled, grind the liver using a food chopper or grate it finely.
Mix and season
Chop half as much boiled fat pork into 1‑inch cubes and grind the other half.
Mix the liver and pork together thoroughly.
Add salt, ground cloves, pepper, grated onion, thyme, and marjoram to taste.
Stuff the mixture into large casings or make casings from clean white muslin.
Cook and can
Cover the sausages with boiling water and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes.
Pack the sausages in cans and fill with the boiling water used for cooking.
Cap the cans and exhaust for 5 minutes if cooled; if packed hot, exhausting is not necessary.
Process No. 2 cans for 50 minutes at 250°F (120°C) or 15 pounds of steam pressure. Process No. 3 cans for 65 minutes at 250°F (120°C) or 15 pounds of steam pressure.
This liver sausage can be served hot or cold.
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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Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,225 recipes
Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
-
Clove + marjoramtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,075 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,108 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Pepper + marjoramtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,585 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
- Liver
- Forms the main body of the sausage and gives it its rich, dense texture.
- Boiled fat pork
- Adds fat that keeps the sausage moist and smooth during cooking and canning.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the sausage and helps draw out moisture for a firmer texture.
- Grated onion
- Adds moisture and a mild savoury sweetness to the mixture.
The step that matters
Processing the cans. Liver sausage is low in acid, so it must be heated long enough at full pressure to destroy harmful microorganisms. Shortchanging the time or pressure risks spoilage.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, pork, clove, pepper, thyme, marjoram):
- Carrotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against liver, pork, clove, pepper, thyme, marjoram. 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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