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Venison Fry

A dish of fried venison liver and sweetbread seasoned with white pepper and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Venison and ham work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 85 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Venison Fry

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Slice the liver into pieces and place between two plates.

  2. Cut the fat into 1-inch pieces.

  3. Boil the fat pieces with the velvet from the horns, then remove the velvet.

  4. Scrape off the hair.

  5. Strain the boiled parts and wash them in several waters.

  6. Trim the parts and dry them on a clean cloth.

  7. Slice the sweetbread thickly.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat 4-5 slices of ham or bacon fat over low heat in a frying pan to draw out the fat.

  2. Pour the fat into a basin.

  3. Fry the liver until browned.

  4. Season both sides of the liver with white pepper and salt.

  5. Place the liver on a sieve to drain.

  6. Add the remaining ham fat to the pan and heat the pan.

  7. Fry the other parts until browned and crisp.

  8. Arrange the liver and sweetbread around the dish, with the other parts in the center.

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. Venison + hamtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  2. Liver + hamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together298 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Liver + venisontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together52 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  4. Ham + white peppertop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together535 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  5. Liver + white peppertop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together61 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Liver of venison
The main meat; quick frying browns its surface while the inside stays tender.
Fat from venison
Adds richness and moisture, and carries flavour into the frying.
Fat from ham or bacon
Frying fat that browns the pieces and adds savoury flavour.

The step that matters

Fry the liver until browned. Liver is lean and overcooking makes it dry and grainy. Its proteins tighten with prolonged heat, so a short, attentive sear keeps it tender.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, venison, ham):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Celeryfits better
  3. Sagefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, venison, ham. 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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