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 ↓
Liver and Bacon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut liver into thin slices the day before.
Wash liver and soak in cold water, then drain and dry with a towel.
Season liver with salt and pepper, then coat with flour.
Cook
Fry bacon until crisp.
In the bacon grease, fry the coated liver until cooked through.
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
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking to a tender, meaty texture when fried.
- Bacon
- Renders fat for frying and adds smoky, savoury flavour to the liver.
- Flour
- Coats the liver so it browns in the fat and forms a light crust.
The step that matters
Frying the liver until cooked through. Liver turns dry and grainy when overcooked, yet undercooked liver is unsafe to eat. Frying over steady medium heat and checking that the centre is no longer pink gives a tender result that is safe to eat.
“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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