Name: Livek and Onions
Ingredients: liver; salted lard or frying oil; pepper; onions

Why it works: Pepper and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Livek and Onions

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

liver
salted lard or frying oil
pepper
onions

Directions

Use two frying pans and heat a generous amount of salted lard or frying oil in both.
Cut the liver into thin, even slices and wash in cold water.
Wipe each slice dry and place in the hot grease, filling the frying pan.
Season with salt and pepper, cover with a lid, and cook over a brisk fire.
Slice the onions and place them in the second frying pan with hot grease, seasoning with salt and pepper, stirring frequently.
Turn the liver slices once while cooking.
Once done, place the liver on a platter and heap the cooked onions over and around it.

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.

Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Liver + oniontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,420 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Liver + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,375 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).