Name: Calf's Liver and Bacon
Ingredients: Calf's liver, sliced moderately thin; Bacon, rashers; Butter; Seasoned beaten egg; Olive oil

Why it works: Butter and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,887 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Calf's Liver and Bacon

Ingredients

Directions

Heat butter in a pan.
Cook the slices of calf's liver until done, then remove from the pan.
In the same pan, cook the rashers of bacon until crispy.
Serve the liver garnished with the bacon.

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.

Butter + olivetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,887 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Liver + buttertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,065 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Liver + olivetop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together186 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).
Liver + eggtop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,177 recipes

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