Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Fried Liver
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the liver
Pour boiling water over the liver slices and drain immediately.
Remove the skin and season the liver with salt and pepper.
Roll the liver in Graham flour or cracker crumbs.
Fry and make the gravy
Heat fat or butter in a skillet and fry the liver slowly for about 20 minutes until browned.
Remove the liver and stir 1 tablespoon of flour into the fat.
Add 1 pint of milk, boil, season, and serve the gravy over the liver.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Liver + buttertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,065 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Calf's liver
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooked until browned and tender.
- Graham flour or cracker crumbs
- Coats the liver, forming a browned crust while frying.
- Flour
- Thickens the fat into a roux that gives the milk gravy body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the gravy, adding richness and smoothness.
The step that matters
Fry the liver slowly. Slow frying over moderate heat lets the liver cook through and brown evenly without drying out or toughening. Excess heat can scorch the coating before the interior is done.
“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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