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Liver “a L’ltalienne.”

Veal liver baked with bacon, wine, herbs, and shallots.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Liver “a L’ltalienne.”

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Cut the veal liver into thick slices.

  2. In a deep baking dish, combine oil, white wine, parsley, mushroom, shallot, pepper, salt, and small pieces of bacon.

Layer and bake

  1. Layer some liver over the mixture, then add more oil, wine, herbs, and bacon, followed by more liver.

  2. Top with slices of fat bacon.

  3. Cook in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C).

Finish and serve

  1. Remove the liver when cooked.

  2. Continue cooking the sauce until thickened, then serve with the liver.

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. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Veal + livertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together392 recipes

    Shared aroma: enoic acid (butter, cheesy).

  4. Mushroom + shallottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. White wine + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,765 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal liver
Forms the main body of the dish, cooked tender in the oil and wine.
Oil
Carries heat evenly and keeps the liver moist during slow baking.
White wine
Adds acidity and moisture that combine with the pan juices to form the sauce.
Bacon
Adds fat and savoury flavour that seasons the liver and sauce as it cooks.
Shallot
Adds a mild onion-like sweetness and aroma to the sauce.
Mushroom
Adds earthy flavour and body to the sauce as it reduces.

The step that matters

Continue cooking the sauce until thickened. Once the liver is removed, the remaining juices must reduce to concentrate flavour and thicken. Stopping too early leaves a thin sauce, while overcooking makes it sticky and dry.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, liver, white wine, parsley, mushroom, pepper):

  1. Carrotfits about as well
  2. Shallotthe original
  3. Capsicumfits less well
  4. Tomatofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, liver, white wine, parsley, mushroom, 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.

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