Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 14,036 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the heart
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Stuff the calf's heart with forcemeat.
Place the stuffed heart in an earthen dish with a little water underneath.
Top the heart with butter.
Dredge the heart with flour.
Make the sauce
Boil half the liver and all the lights for 30 minutes.
Chop the boiled liver small.
In a saucepan, combine chopped liver, stock, ketchup, lemon pickle, and juice of half a lemon.
Season the sauce with pepper and salt.
Thicken the sauce with butter rolled in flour.
Assemble and bake
Place the forcemeat at the bottom of the dish.
Top with fried liver slices and bacon.
Place the heart in the center.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,036 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together34,118 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Lemon + peppertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,039 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together122,858 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + parsleytop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together28,543 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 122,858 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Calf's heart
- Main meat, cooked whole so it holds its shape and juices.
- Forcemeat
- Stuffing that adds richness and moisture to the inside of the heart.
- Cooked liver
- Chopped into the sauce to add depth and a rich, savoury flavour.
- Flour
- Dusted on the heart and used as a starch to thicken the sauce.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and rolled in flour it helps thicken the sauce.
- Stock
- Liquid base that carries the flavours of the sauce.
The step that matters
Thickening the sauce with butter rolled in flour. The flour must be fully worked into the butter and stirred into the simmering liquid so the starch swells evenly. Added in lumps or unstirred, it sets unevenly and leaves floury clumps in the sauce.
“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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