Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Liver Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the livers
Wash the livers and boil them gently for 30 minutes.
Chop the livers finely or rub them through a sieve.
Season the liver pulp with pepper and salt.
Make the sauce
Melt the butter in a small saucepan.
Mix the flour smoothly with the melted butter.
Add the milk and water, stirring until the sauce boils.
Stir in the chopped liver and serve.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + rabbittop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,067 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Liver + rabbittop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together233 recipes
Shared aroma: geraniol (rose, geranium).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Butter
- Melted with flour to form a roux that gives the sauce body and richness.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce as its starch swells when heated in the liquid.
- Milk and water
- Form the liquid base that the flour thickens into a smooth sauce.
- Livers from rabbits
- Provide the main flavour and, once cooked and pulped, the body of the sauce.
The step that matters
Add the milk and water gradually while stirring. Flour mixed with melted butter can form lumps if liquid is added all at once. Stirring while the liquid is added and heated lets the starch disperse and swell evenly, giving a smooth sauce that thickens as it boils.
“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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