Why it works: Liver and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,606 recipes. Both carry 1-nonanal, which smells fatty, waxy. The science ↓
Fried Liver
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the liver in cold water, then pour scalding water over it and let it stand for 10 minutes to draw out the blood.
Slice the liver into ½ inch thick pieces.
Roll the liver slices in flour and season with salt and pepper.
Fry and serve
Heat the hot fat in a frying pan.
Fry the liver in the hot fat until browned on both sides.
Serve the liver on a dish with fried pork or bacon if desired.
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 + porktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,606 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
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Pepper + porktop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,121 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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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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Flour + porktop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,187 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and pork barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,187 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
- Liver
- Provides the main body and rich flavor of the dish.
- Flour
- Forms a light coating that browns in the hot fat and helps the surface crisp.
The step that matters
Frying the liver in hot fat. Fat must be hot before the liver goes in, so the surface sears and browns quickly. Cooking in fat that is too cool lets the slices steep in their juices, making them tough and grey rather than browned.
“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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