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Potted Liver

A liver mixture seasoned with salt, pepper, sage, butter, and cooking liquid, baked until set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Potted Liver

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the liver

  1. Boil the calf liver until tender.

  2. Chop the liver very finely.

  3. Season with coarse sea salt, black pepper, and dried sage.

Make and pot the mixture

  1. Add butter and mix well with the cooking liquid.

  2. Press the mixture solidly into a pudding dish.

  3. Pour a little of the cooking liquid over the top.

Bake

  1. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 20 minutes.

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. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

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

  2. Liver + sagetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together229 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1,8-cineol (eucalyptus, camphor).

  3. Sage + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,312 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Liver + buttertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  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 liver
Forms the main body of the potted mixture, giving it its meaty texture and rich flavor.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, rich mouthfeel and helps the mixture hold together when chilled.
Cooking liquid from boiled liver
Adds moisture so the chopped liver stays soft and spreadable rather than dry.
Dried sage
Contributes a warm, herbal aroma that complements the richness of the liver.

The step that matters

Add butter and mix well with the cooking liquid. Working the butter and cooking liquid thoroughly into the finely chopped liver spreads the fat and moisture evenly. A well-mixed batter-like paste stays smooth and spreadable, while poorly combined portions can separate or turn greasy or dry in places.

Swap the sage

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

  1. Sagethe original
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Marjoramfits less well

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