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Stewed Calf's Liver

A stew of calf liver cooked slowly with butter, wine, water, onions, carrots, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Stewed Calf's Liver

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and brown the liver

  1. Lard the liver with strips of fat and season with salt and pepper.

  2. In a stewpan, melt the butter and fry the liver well on both sides.

Make the gravy

  1. Remove the liver and mix flour into the remaining butter.

  2. Add water, wine, the onion with cloves, salt, pepper, and sweet herbs; stir until boiling.

  3. Return the liver to the pan along with the carrots and onions.

Simmer and serve

  1. Simmer slowly for 2 hours.

  2. Transfer the liver to a dish, skim the gravy, and remove the vegetables.

  3. Garnish the liver with the carrots and onions, strain the gravy, and pour it over the liver before serving.

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. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Clove + carrottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Pepper + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

  4. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

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

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

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 dish; slow cooking in liquid keeps its texture tender and moist.
Butter
Fat for frying, which browns the liver surface and carries flavor into the gravy.
Wine
Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the rich gravy.
Carrots
Release sweetness and body into the stewing liquid as they cook.
Onions
Build a savory, sweet base for the gravy as they soften and release flavor.

The step that matters

Simmer slowly for 2 hours. A gentle simmer keeps the liver tender. A hard boil tightens its proteins, leaving the meat tough and dry.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits about as well
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, butter, wine, clove, pepper, carrot. 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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