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Calf’s Liver Minced

A baked minced calf liver dish mixed with veal suet, onion, truffles, herbs, bread crumbs, eggs, cream, and a mashed turnip‑potato topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Calf’s Liver Minced

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the mince

  1. Blanch the calf's liver.

  2. Chop the liver with veal suet, onion, truffles, parsley, sweet herbs, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper.

  3. Bind the mixture with eggs and cream.

Make the topping

  1. Mash boiled turnips and potatoes with butter, boiling milk, and Worcestershire sauce.

Bake and serve

  1. Put the mince in a deep dish and cover with the mashed turnip and potato mixture.

  2. Bake in a very hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 45 minutes.

  3. Serve hot with or without tomato sauce.

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

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

  2. Liver + vealtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together392 recipes

    Shared aroma: enoic acid (butter, cheesy).

  3. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  4. Veal + truffletop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together815 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

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

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 mince and gives it a rich, meaty flavour.
Veal suet
Adds fat that keeps the chopped mince moist and tender as it cooks.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so it holds together when cut and served.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help give the mince a firm, sliceable texture.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the mashed turnip and potato topping.
Potatoes
Give the topping a smooth, starchy body that mashes well and browns lightly.

The step that matters

Binding the mixture with eggs and cream. Too little egg leaves the chopped liver loose and crumbly, while too much makes it dense and rubbery. Eggs set on heating and hold the mince together, so the mixture should be bound just enough to hold its shape.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, veal, truffle, parsley, bread, pepper, egg):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, veal, truffle, parsley, bread, 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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