Why it works: Liver and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 28% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,418 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Liver and Bacon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Slice bacon thin and fry in a dry pan.
Cut liver into ½ inch thick slices.
Cook and make gravy
Roll liver in flour and fry in the bacon fat.
Make gravy in the pan where the liver was fried.
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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Liver + flourtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,418 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bacon
- Renders fat for frying and adds salty, smoky flavour to the dish.
- Liver
- Serves as the main protein, cooking quickly to a tender texture when not overheated.
- Flour
- Coats the liver so it browns, and thickens the pan juices into gravy.
The step that matters
Frying the liver. Liver is lean and its proteins toughen and dry out with prolonged high heat. Frying briefly over moderate heat keeps it tender and juicy, while the flour coating helps it brown.
“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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