Why it works: Flour and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Liver and Bacon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the liver into ½ inch thick slices and wash in warm water to remove blood.
Dry the liver with a cloth.
Mix flour, pepper, and salt on a plate and dip each liver slice in it.
Cook
Heat a frying pan and fry the bacon until cooked, then keep warm on a dish.
In the same pan, cook the liver on high heat for 1 minute, then lower the heat and cook gently for 4 minutes.
Turn the liver over, cook on high for 1 minute, then lower the heat to finish cooking gently.
To make gravy, add 1 teaspoon of flour to the pan fat, cook until brown, then gradually add ½ cup hot water or stock.
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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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).
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Liver + flourtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,418 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Liver
- Provides the main meat; a short high-heat sear followed by gentle cooking keeps it tender.
- Flour
- Coats the slices so they brown in the pan and thicken the gravy from the pan fat.
- Bacon
- Renders fat into the pan that flavours the liver and the gravy.
The step that matters
Turn the liver over and lower the heat to finish cooking gently. Liver turns grainy and dry when overcooked. A brief high-heat sear sets a browned crust, and gentle heat then cooks the centre through without toughening the protein.
“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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