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Fricassee of Liver

A sautéed liver dish simmered in a lemon‑flavored gravy with carrot and onion.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Fricassee of Liver

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the liver

  1. Wash and slice the liver, then dip it in the flour.

  2. Fry the liver lightly and quickly in the butter, then place it in a saucepan.

Make the gravy

  1. Slice the carrot and fry it in the same butter.

  2. Stir in the gravy, bring to a boil, and pour it over the liver.

Simmer and serve

  1. Simmer gently for one hour, then dish carefully.

  2. Season the gravy with salt, pepper, and lemon juice, bring to a boil, and pour it over the liver.

  3. Serve hot.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

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

  4. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 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
Is the main protein; flouring and quick frying give it a browned outside while it stays tender inside.
Flour
Coats the liver slices so they brown in the butter and help thicken the gravy.
Butter
Fries the liver and carrot, adding richness and browning.
Gravy
Forms the sauce that moistens the liver during the long simmer.
Onion
Listed in the ingredients but not used in any step, so its role is left out.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich liver and gravy.

The step that matters

Fry the liver lightly and quickly. Liver turns tough and grainy when overcooked. A brief, hot sear in butter browns the floured surface while keeping the inside tender, and the liver then finishes gently in the gravy.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, butter, carrot, lemon, flour, parsley, 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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