Name: Calf’s Liver and Bacon
Ingredients: 2 to 3 lbs calf's liver; bacon (slices equal to liver slices); pepper to taste; salt to taste; 1 small piece of butter; 2 teaspoons flour; 2 tablespoons lemon juice; ½ pint water

Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Calf’s Liver and Bacon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Cut the liver into thin slices and prepare bacon slices to match.
Fry the bacon first and keep it warm on a dish.

Cook the liver

Fry the liver in the bacon fat, seasoning with pepper, salt, and a little flour.
Turn the liver occasionally to prevent burning; cook for 5 to 10 minutes.
Arrange the liver on a dish with a piece of bacon between each slice.

Make the sauce and serve

Pour off excess bacon fat, add a small piece of butter, flour, lemon juice, and water to the pan.
Bring to a boil and pour the sauce over the liver.
Garnish with lemon slices or forcemeat balls if desired.

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 + lemontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,227 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,404 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together50,459 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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

Calf's liver: Forms the main body of the dish, cooking quickly to a tender texture when fried.
Bacon: Its fat fries the liver and adds savoury, smoky flavour.
Flour: Lightly coats the liver and thickens the pan sauce.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the rich liver and bacon flavours.

The step that matters

Turning the liver occasionally. Liver is thin and lean, so it dries out and toughens quickly. Turning it regularly ensures even cooking and prevents the flour coating and fat from scorching before the interior is done.

“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.

More calf liver with bacon recipes

Fried 3 See all 12 →

Lemon Sauce236 recipes

Tomato Soup526 recipes

Brown Bread461 recipes

Mutton Broth292 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Calf’s Liver and Bacon