Why it works: Flour and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Liver and Bacon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the bacon into thin slices and set the sliced bacon aside.
Wash the liver and dry it thoroughly.
Mix flour, salt, and pepper on a plate.
Cut the liver into pieces.
Coat each liver piece in the flour mixture.
Cook and make the sauce
Fry the bacon until crispy, then remove the bacon from the pan.
Fry the coated liver for 8 to 10 minutes until browned, then remove the liver from the pan.
Strain off excess grease.
Mix the remaining seasoning with the cup of water in a bowl, pour the mixture into the pan, stir, and bring the mixture to a boil.
Serve the sauce over the liver and bacon.
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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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Liver + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,375 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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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
- Liver
- Forms the main body of the dish, browning on the outside while staying tender inside.
- Bacon
- Adds salty, smoky fat that flavours the pan and crisps as it renders.
- Flour
- Coats the liver so it browns well and helps thicken the pan sauce.
The step that matters
Drying the liver before coating. Surface moisture keeps the flour from sticking evenly and steams the liver instead of browning it. A dry surface lets the flour form a crust that browns in the hot fat.
“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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