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Liver Puddings

A savory pudding made from liver, bacon, bread crumbs, milk, herbs, cream, and lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,399 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Liver Puddings

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ingredients

  1. Boil the liver, then chop or pound it finely.

  2. Mince the bacon small.

  3. Soak the bread crumbs in milk and press them.

Combine and finish

  1. Mix the liver, bacon, soaked bread, pepper, salt, sweet herbs, cream, and melted lard until combined.

  2. For variation, you can add toasted oatmeal, boiled rice, or groats, adjusting the amount of suet to keep the mixture moist.

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. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  3. Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + creamtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Liver + milktop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together288 recipes

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

Pepper and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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

Calves' or hogs' liver
Forms the main body of the pudding and gives it a rich, savory flavor.
Bacon
Adds fat and smoky, savory flavor that carries through the mixture.
Bread crumbs
Soaked in milk, they absorb liquid and help bind the mixture while keeping it tender.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the pudding soft rather than dry.
Melted lard
Adds fat that coats the mixture, improving moistness and mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Press the soaked bread crumbs. Pressing removes excess milk so the bread holds its moisture without loosening the mixture. Too much liquid makes the pudding soggy and weakens its structure, while the fat and cream supply the moisture the dish needs.

“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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