Name: Liver and Bacon
Ingredients: 1 Sheep’s Liver; ½ cup Ketchup; ½ lb fat Pork Ham; Pepper to taste; Coarse sea salt to taste; Flour for coating; 1 cup water

Why it works: Liver and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,606 recipes. Both carry 1-nonanal, which smells fatty, waxy. The science ↓

Liver and Bacon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the liver

Wash the liver well, making a few cuts to allow the blood to be washed out.
Dry the liver and cut into slices about ½ inch thick.
Mix flour with a little salt and pepper on a plate, then dip each slice of liver in this mixture.

Cook the liver and ham

Cut the ham into small pieces and fry lightly in a hot, clean frying pan.
Remove the ham from the pan and keep it warm.
Fry the liver in the remaining fat for about 8 minutes, turning once.
Plate the liver with a small piece of ham on each slice.

Make the sauce and serve

In the frying pan, add 2 teaspoons of flour, a little pepper, and salt. Stir until mixed with the fat.
Pour in 1 cup of water and 2 teaspoons of ketchup, if available, and stir over heat until it boils.
Pour or strain the sauce over the liver and bacon.

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.

Liver + porktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,606 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
Pork + hamtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,638 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Ketchup + flourtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,435 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,121 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Liver + hamtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together298 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sheep's liver: Forms the main body of the dish, cooked to a tender slice once dredged and fried.
Flour: Coats the liver so it browns in the fat and thickens the sauce as it boils.
Pork ham: Adds salty, fatty flavour and fat for frying the liver.
Ketchup: Adds sweetness and acidity to the sauce.