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Liver Pâté

A spread made from cooked liver, bacon, onions, carrots, spices, water, butter, and alcohol.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Liver and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,421 recipes mention both. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Cut bacon and fry it with sliced vegetables.

  2. Add sliced liver and fry the mixture until its color goes to brown.

  3. Add spices and water and boil until all the ingredients are soft.

Finish and store

  1. Grind the mixture with a mincing machine.

  2. Add butter and whip the mixture.

  3. Put the mixture into bowls and store it in a cold place.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

  1. Liver + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together1,421 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Carrot + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together14,555 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + carrottop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together21,599 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Carrot + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,424 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Pepper + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's liver
Forms the main body of the pâté and gives it its rich, meaty flavour.
Bacon
Adds fat and savoury flavour as it fries with the vegetables.
Butter
Adds fat that makes the whipped pâté smooth and spreadable.
Onions
Add sweetness and aroma as they soften and brown with the liver.
Carrots
Add gentle sweetness and moisture as they cook until soft.

The step that matters

Frying the liver until brown. Browning the liver develops deeper savoury flavour through the Maillard reaction, but overcooking it makes the pâté dry and grainy once ground and whipped.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, carrot, pepper, nutmeg, butter, sugar, brandy):

  1. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  2. Potatobetter flavor fit
  3. Parsnipbetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, carrot, pepper, nutmeg, butter, sugar, brandy. 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).

“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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