Why it works: Chicken and liver work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 383 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
The recipe
4 servingsIngredients
Contains: milk, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Place the chopped spinach in a large heatproof bowl and set aside.
Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced fennel and cook 5 minutes, stirring, until softened.
Add the minced garlic, chopped capers, chopped anchovies and dried sage to the skillet. Cook 1 minute, mashing the anchovies into the oil.
Season the sliced chicken livers with the salt and black pepper. Add them to the skillet and cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring, until no pink remains and they reach 165°F (74°C) in the thickest part.
Pour in the chicken broth and simmer 2 minutes, scraping up any browned bits from the pan.
Pour the hot liver and fennel mixture over the spinach, toss until the spinach wilts, and serve immediately.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Chicken + livertop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together383 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Spinach + garlictop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,433 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanol (resin, flower).
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Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together23,449 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Garlic + chickentop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together10,839 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).
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Olive + chickentop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together10,796 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid hexyl ester (sweet, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the capers
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (spinach, fennel, butter, olive, garlic, chicken, liver):
- Thymebetter flavor fit
- Parsleybetter flavor fit
- Cuminbetter flavor fit
- Capersthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against spinach, fennel, butter, olive, garlic, chicken, liver. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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