Skip to main content
Main

Danish Liver Pudding

A baked liver pudding made with calf's liver, bacon, onion, anchovies, bread crumbs, eggs, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Danish Liver Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the liver mixture

  1. Scald and remove the skin from the calf's liver, then chop and press it through a colander.

  2. Chop the bacon, onion, and anchovies finely, then press them through a colander.

  3. Combine the pressed liver, bacon, onion, anchovies, bread crumbs, beaten eggs, milk, salt, and pepper in a bowl.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered mold.

  2. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1.5 hours.

  3. Let it cool in the dish before serving.

  4. Serve cold.

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.

  1. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Rye + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together918 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Rye + peppertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together80 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  4. Onion + ryetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together73 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Liver + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,420 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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 pudding and gives it its rich, savory flavor.
Bacon
Adds fat and savory flavor that keeps the pudding moist as it bakes.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set during baking to give the pudding its firm structure.
Rye or graham bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and add body, helping the pudding hold together and stay tender.
Milk
Adds moisture, keeping the texture soft and custard-like as the eggs set.
Anchovies
Contribute deep savory flavor that rounds out the liver.

The step that matters

Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1.5 hours. Eggs set as they heat, so baking at a moderate temperature for the full time lets the center firm without curdling or drying out the edges. Cooling in the dish lets the structure settle before slicing.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, rye, egg, milk, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, rye, egg, milk, pepper. 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.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes