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Sage & Thyme Calves’ Liver with Wild Mushrooms & Pancetta

Think you don't like liver? This tasty, pan-fried version with herbs, mushrooms and bacon on toast may convert you

By bbcgoodfood · From Open Recipes · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,485 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4
Prep25 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Sage + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Thyme + lemontop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Sage + lemontop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together887 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Butter + breadtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together27,145 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Thyme + shallottop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,467 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the chestnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, butter, sage, thyme, shallot, lemon, bread):

  1. Walnutabout as good a flavor fit
  2. Peasabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Beansabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Chestnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, butter, sage, thyme, shallot, lemon, bread. 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).