Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Liver Dumplings
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dumplings
In a bowl, combine the minced liver, bread crumbs, beaten eggs, butter, salt, pepper, and herbs.
Mix in enough flour to form the mixture into balls.
Cook
Cook the dumplings in boiling soup or stew until cooked through.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Liver + breadtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together731 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Liver
- Provides the main flavor and rich, savory body of the dumplings.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and give the dumplings bulk and a tender structure.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture together so it holds its shape while cooking.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a softer texture and richer flavor.
- Flour
- Stiffens the mixture so it can be shaped into balls that hold together.
The step that matters
Shaping with flour. Too little flour leaves the mixture too wet to hold its shape, so dumplings may fall apart in the boiling liquid. Add flour gradually until the mixture just forms firm balls.
“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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