Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Potted Liver
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the beef and liver until tender enough to run a straw through.
Remove all fat and sinews, then chop the meat very finely.
Melt a generous amount of butter.
Add spices, pepper, and coarse sea salt to taste.
Pour the hot butter mixture over the chopped liver and mix thoroughly.
Transfer the mixture to a jar for storage.
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.
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,847 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Beef + livertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together431 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Liver + buttertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,065 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Liver + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
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