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Stewed Liver

A dish of sliced calf liver simmered in a broth of water, flour, onion, and fat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Stewed Liver

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the liver into slices, then into 2‑inch square pieces.

  2. In a pan, heat 2 tablespoons of dripping.

Make the sauce

  1. Add the flour and stir until browned.

  2. Pour in the water, stirring constantly until it boils.

  3. Transfer the mixture to a stewing pan with the liver and onion.

Stew and serve

  1. Cover and simmer gently for 1 hour.

  2. Add salt and pepper to taste, then serve.

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. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  2. Liver + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,420 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Flour + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32,460 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Liver + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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 stew, becoming tender with gentle simmering.
Flour
Browned in fat, it thickens the water into a gravy-like sauce.
Dripping
Fat for browning the flour and adds rich flavour to the gravy.
Onion
Softens during simmering and adds sweetness and aroma to the sauce.

The step that matters

Stirring the flour as it browns. Flour browned in fat develops nutty flavour and colour, but if it scorches it turns bitter. Keep it moving over steady heat, then stir constantly when adding water so lumps do not form.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, flour, pepper. 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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