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 the bacon
Cut bacon into thin slices and fry until all the fat is rendered.
Keep the bacon warm in the oven.
Cook the liver
Scald the liver in boiling water, then cut it into slices.
Dust each liver slice lightly with flour.
Fry the liver in the bacon fat until browned.
Serve
Serve the liver on a platter with the bacon laid over it.
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
- Calves' liver
- Is the main protein, cooked quickly so it stays tender rather than tough.
- Bacon
- Its rendered fat is used to fry the liver, adding savory flavor and browning.
- Flour
- A light dusting helps the liver slices brown and form a slightly crisp surface.
The step that matters
Fry the liver until just browned. Liver is lean and delicate, so overcooking makes it dry and grainy. Brief, hot frying in bacon fat browns the surface while keeping the interior tender.
“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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