Why it works: Liver and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,375 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Liver and Bacon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the liver
Cover the liver with boiling water and let it stand for 5 minutes to draw out the blood.
Drain the liver.
Wipe the liver.
Remove the thin outside skin and veins from the liver.
Season and cook
Add the bacon strips.
Sprinkle the bacon and liver with salt and pepper.
Place the liver and bacon in a greased wire broiler.
Cook for 5 minutes, turning often.
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 + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,375 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Liver
- Provides the rich, meaty main flavour and a tender interior when cooked briefly.
- Bacon
- Adds fat that bastes the liver and browns to a savoury, crisp edge.
The step that matters
Cook for 5 minutes, turning often. Liver is lean and cooks quickly; overcooking makes it dry, grainy and tough. Frequent turning promotes even cooking and browning without drying the surface too far.
“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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