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Calf’s Liver

A calf liver stuffed with breadcrumbs, anchovy, herbs, bacon, onion, egg, and seasonings, then roasted and served with brown gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Calf’s Liver

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and wipe the calf's liver.

  2. Cut a long hole in the liver and stuff it with bread crumbs, chopped anchovy, herbs, bacon, onion, salt, pepper, and the egg.

  3. Sew the liver up.

  4. Lard it or wrap it in a veal caul.

Roast and serve

  1. Roast the liver until cooked through.

  2. Serve hot with a good brown gravy.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Bread + anchovytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,260 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

  3. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Anchovy + eggtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,330 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Liver + anchovytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together199 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

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, cooking into a tender, firm slice around the stuffing.
Egg
Binds the stuffing so the bread crumbs and chopped ingredients hold together when cooked.
Bread crumbs
Absorb juices and add body to the stuffing, keeping it moist rather than dense.
Fat bacon
Adds fat and savoury flavour that keeps the lean liver moist as it roasts.
Chopped anchovy
Adds a salty, savoury depth that rounds out the richness of the liver.

The step that matters

Roast the liver until cooked through. Liver is easy to overcook, which makes it dry and grainy. Cooking it just until done keeps it tender, while the egg in the stuffing sets as it heats.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, pepper, butter, bread, anchovy, 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, pepper, butter, bread, anchovy, 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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