Why it works: Pepper and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Boiled Liver
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Combine the chopped liver, salt pork, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, mace or nutmeg, and cloves in a bowl.
Mix well and transfer to a covered tin pail.
Boil
Place the pail in a kettle of cold water and bring to a boil.
Boil for 2 hours.
Dry and serve
Remove the cover and let it dry in a 300°F (150°C) oven.
Allow to cool before slicing and serving cold.
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.
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Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,400 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Liver + porktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,606 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
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Pork + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,371 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Pork + clovetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,515 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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 loaf and gives it its rich, savoury flavour.
- Salt pork
- Adds fat that keeps the loaf moist and adds savoury richness.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb liquid and help bind the liver into a sliceable loaf.
The step that matters
Boil for 2 hours in a covered pail. Slow, enclosed cooking in water gently sets the liver and bread crumbs without drying them. Keeping the cover on traps moisture so the loaf stays tender rather than tough and crumbly.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, pork, bread, pepper, clove):
- Sagefits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Thymefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against liver, pork, bread, pepper, clove. 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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