Why it works: Pepper and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Fried Liver
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cook slices of bacon in a frying pan until the grease is rendered, or heat a large spoonful of lard.
Season the liver slices with pepper and salt, then dredge them in flour.
Fry and make the gravy
Fry the liver in the bacon grease or lard until it is a good brown color; this will take longer than most meats.
After removing the liver, add a little boiling water to the pan drippings and sprinkle in some flour to thicken the gravy.
Let the gravy boil, then pour it over the fried 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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Pepper + flourtop 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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Liver + flourtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,418 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Liver
- Is the main dish, and its thin slices cook quickly and brown in hot fat.
- Flour
- Dredging coats the liver so it browns, and later thickens the pan gravy.
- Bacon
- Its rendered grease fries the liver and adds savory, smoky flavor to the dish.
- Lard or cooking oil
- Provides the hot fat for frying, which browns the coated liver surface.
The step that matters
Frying the liver until brown. Liver is lean and dense, and it becomes tough and dry if overcooked. Browning needs enough hot fat, and the cook must watch color rather than just time.
“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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