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Liver Dumplings

A savory dumpling made with calf liver, bread, eggs, and spices, boiled and served with gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Liver Dumplings

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Skin and finely chop the liver.

  2. Heat the butter in a skillet and add the onions; brown slightly.

  3. Add the liver and the rest of the ingredients; mix well.

Form and cook

  1. Form the mixture into balls the size of walnuts.

  2. Drop the balls into boiling salted water and let them simmer for 15 minutes.

  3. Drain and serve hot with meat gravy.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Wheat + nutmegtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together359 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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 dumplings and gives them their rich, savory flavor.
Wheat bread
Adds bulk and moisture, lightening the dense liver so the dumplings hold together softly.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so the dumplings hold their shape during simmering.
Flour
Helps absorb moisture and firm up the mixture so it binds into balls.
Onion
Browned in butter to add sweetness and savory depth to the filling.

The step that matters

Drop the balls into boiling salted water and let them simmer for 15 minutes. The mixture must be firm enough to hold its shape. Keeping the water at a gentle simmer rather than a hard boil helps the dumplings cook through without breaking apart.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, wheat, bread, flour, egg, pepper, nutmeg):

  1. Cinnamonfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Marjoramfits about as well
  4. Sagefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, wheat, bread, flour, egg, pepper, nutmeg. 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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