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Minced Calf’s Liver

A minced calf liver dish stewed with onion, bacon, butter, eggs, and steamed in a caul.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Minced Calf’s Liver

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Chop the calf's liver, onion, and bacon finely.

  2. Melt the butter in a stewpan.

  3. Add the onion and bacon, stir over medium heat for 5 minutes.

  4. Add the liver, season with salt and pepper, and stir for 10 minutes.

  5. Transfer the mixture to a dish and let it cool.

  6. Mix in the beaten eggs.

Wrap and steam

  1. Sew a caul into a bag.

  2. Fill the bag with the mixture.

  3. Secure the end of the bag.

  4. Melt a good-sized lump of butter in a saucepan.

  5. Add the bag, cover, and steam for 1 hour, turning occasionally.

  6. Remove the caul from the saucepan and let it cool before serving.

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. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Liver + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,420 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's liver
Forms the main body of the dish, giving a rich, firm, meaty texture when cooked.
Fat bacon
Adds fat and savoury flavour, keeping the minced mixture moist as it cooks.
Eggs
Bind the minced mixture together so it holds its shape when cooled and sliced.
Butter
Enriches the onion and bacon base and adds fat for flavour and gentle browning.
Onion
Contributes sweetness and aroma as it softens in the butter and fat.

The step that matters

Cooking the liver over medium heat. Liver turns grainy and tough when overcooked, since its proteins tighten quickly under high heat. Stirring steadily over moderate heat keeps the texture tender and the mixture moist.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, butter, pepper, egg):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, butter, pepper, egg. 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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