Why it works: Liver and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,420 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓
Liver and Bacon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Slice the bacon thinly and remove the rind.
Slice the sheep's liver into pieces.
Coat the liver slices in flour on both sides.
Fry the bacon
Fry the bacon in a frying pan for about 10 minutes, adding a small piece of dripping if the bacon is not very fatty.
Turn the bacon when one side is fried.
Once the bacon is cooked, remove it from the pan and keep it warm.
Fry the liver and serve
Fry the liver slices in the same pan, a few at a time, ensuring they do not overlap.
If desired, fry sliced onion with the liver.
Cook the liver for about 15 minutes, turning it occasionally.
Check for doneness by cutting a slice; it should be brown inside.
Serve the liver on the dish with the bacon.
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.
-
Liver + oniontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,420 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Flour + oniontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together32,460 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
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
- Sheep's liver
- Forms the main meat, becoming firm and browned when fried through.
- Bacon
- Adds salty, savoury fat that flavours the pan for frying the liver.
- Flour
- Forms a light coating that helps the liver brown and gives a slightly crisp surface.
The step that matters
Check the liver for doneness. Liver turns dry and tough when overcooked, yet undercooked liver stays pink and soft inside. Cutting a slice to check the colour shows whether the centre is properly cooked through.
Swap the onion
The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, flour):
- Shallotfits better
- Chivefits better
- Turnipfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against liver, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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