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Italian Fried Liver

Fried liver pieces simmered in tomato sauce, served hot with or without macaroni.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Liver and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,065 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Italian Fried Liver

Ingredients

Directions

Fry the liver

  1. Slice the liver into ¼ inch thick pieces.

  2. Heat a little butter in a frying pan.

  3. Fry the liver for 1 minute on each side until glazed.

Simmer and serve

  1. In a separate pot, bring the tomatoes to a boil.

  2. Add the liver to the boiling tomatoes and cook for 20 minutes.

  3. Serve hot, alone or with macaroni.

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. Liver + buttertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Liver + tomatotop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together146 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).

  3. Butter + tomatotop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,918 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Liver
Provides the main protein and a meaty, rich texture.
Butter
Adds fat for frying and helps the liver brown and develop flavour.
Tomatoes
Supply moisture and acidity that form the sauce the liver cooks in.

The step that matters

Fry the liver for 1 minute on each side until glazed. Liver is lean and its proteins tighten quickly under heat. A short, hot sear keeps it tender, while longer frying makes it dry, grainy and tough. The later simmer in tomatoes adds more cooking time, so the first sear should be brief.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, butter):

  1. Onionfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, butter. 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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