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Fried Calf's Liver

Thin slices of calf liver are coated in flour and fried in butter and lard, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Fried Calf's Liver

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the liver

  1. Place the liver on paper and wipe it with a damp cloth.

  2. Cut a little at one side to peel off the outer skin without washing.

  3. Slice the liver crosswise into ½ inch thick pieces.

  4. Roll the slices in flour.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat equal parts butter and lard (or drippings) in a pan.

  2. If using bacon, fry it first, then cook the liver.

  3. Fry the liver slices, seasoning with salt and pepper while cooking.

  4. Serve immediately when done.

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. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Liver + buttertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Liver + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Flour and butter 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
Is the main ingredient; its firm texture cooks quickly in hot fat when sliced thin.
Flour
Forms a thin coating that helps the slices brown and keeps juices inside.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor and browns in the pan with the fat.
Lard or drippings
Provides a high-heat frying fat that browns the liver evenly without burning quickly.

The step that matters

Frying the liver slices. Liver is best fried briefly over steady heat. Overcooking makes it dry and grainy because its proteins tighten and lose moisture, so serve as soon as it 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.

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