Why it works: Pepper and onion 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 ↓
Liver and Bacon
Ingredients
Directions
Fry the bacon
Cut the bacon into thin slices and remove the rind.
Fry the bacon in a pan for about 10 minutes, adding a small piece of drippings if it is not very fatty.
Turn the bacon when one side is fried and keep warm on a dish.
Fry the liver and serve
Slice the liver and coat each piece in flour.
Fry the liver in the same pan, a few pieces at a time, for about 15 minutes, turning occasionally.
If desired, fry sliced onion with the liver.
Check the liver for doneness; it should be brown inside.
Serve the liver on the dish with the bacon.
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 + oniontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Liver + oniontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,420 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Flour + oniontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together32,460 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Liver + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,375 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Liver
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooked until brown inside.
- Bacon
- Adds fat and salty, savory flavour to the pan.
- Flour
- Coats the liver, helping it brown and giving a light crust.
The step that matters
Check the liver for doneness. Liver turns tough and dry when overcooked, yet undercooked liver is unpleasant and can be unsafe. Cutting into a piece to check that it is brown inside, with no pink, helps you judge when it is done.
Swap the onion
The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, flour, pepper):
- Shallotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against liver, flour, pepper. 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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