Why it works: Liver and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,421 recipes mention both. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 2Ingredients
Contains: wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Fry the bacon rashers in a large frying pan over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes until crisp. Move the bacon to a plate and leave the fat in the pan.
Add the olive oil and sliced onion to the pan and cook gently over medium-low heat for about 8 minutes, stirring, until soft and golden.
Pour in the beef stock and ketchup, stir in the sage if using, and simmer for about 5 minutes until slightly thickened. Keep warm over low heat.
While the gravy simmers, pat the lamb's liver slices dry and toss them in the seasoned flour, shaking off the excess.
Heat a second frying pan over medium-high heat. Fry the liver for 1 to 2 minutes per side until browned and cooked through to 145°F (63°C) in the thickest part.
Rest the liver for 3 minutes, then serve with the bacon and spoon the onion gravy over the top.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Liver + oniontop 7% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together1,421 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Lamb + beeftop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together896 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Onion + beeftop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,091 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Sage + livertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together229 recipes
Shared aroma: 1,8-cineol (eucalyptus, camphor).
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Lamb + olivetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,391 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the sage
The recipe marks sage as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, lamb, liver, olive, onion, beef, ketchup):
- Garlicbetter flavor fit
- Celerybetter flavor fit
- Parsleybetter flavor fit
- Sagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, lamb, liver, olive, onion, beef, ketchup. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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