Name: Liver and Parsley Sauce
Ingredients: 1 liver from a fowl or rabbit; 5 tablespoons water; 1/3 cup fresh parsley leaves; 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt; 1/4 pint melted butter; Optional: juice and peel of 1 lemon, minced; Optional: 1 tablespoon white wine, 1 teaspoon tarragon or chili vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg or allspice, 1 shallot, or a few leaves of tarragon or basil

Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Liver and Parsley Sauce

Ingredients

1 liver from a fowl or rabbit
5 tablespoons water
1/3 cup fresh parsley leaves
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1/4 pint melted butter
Optional: juice and peel of 1 lemon, minced
Optional: 1 tablespoon white wine, 1 teaspoon tarragon or chili vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg or allspice, 1 shallot, or a few leaves of tarragon or basil

Directions

Prepare the liver

Wash the liver thoroughly and boil it in 5 tablespoons of water for 5 minutes.
Chop or pound the liver finely, using the liquid it was boiled in, and rub it through a sieve.

Make the sauce

Boil the parsley leaves in a little water with 1 teaspoon of salt until tender, then mince finely.
Mix the minced parsley with the liver and combine with 1/4 pint of melted butter, warming gently without boiling.
For added flavor, mix in optional ingredients like lemon juice, white wine, or spices as desired.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,037 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,083 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Lemon + white winetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,832 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together28,563 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Parsley + white winetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,890 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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

What each ingredient does

Liver: Provides the main body and rich flavor of the sauce once pureed.
Melted butter: Adds fat and smooth richness, giving the sauce a silky texture.
Parsley: Contributes fresh, green herbal flavor and color to the sauce.

The step that matters

Warming the sauce without boiling. Butter and liver emulsion can separate or turn grainy if overheated. Gentle warming keeps the fat blended and the sauce smooth.

“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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Mutton Broth292 recipes

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Liver and Parsley Sauce