Why it works: Liver and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,375 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Calf's Liver and Bacon
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the bacon
Broil the bacon in a hot skillet until delicately browned.
Transfer the bacon to a hot dish.
Cook and serve the liver
Add the calf liver slices to the hot bacon fat.
Brown the liver quickly on both sides.
Sprinkle the liver with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Serve the liver on the same dish with the bacon.
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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Liver + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,375 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Calf liver
- Main protein that browns on the outside while staying tender and rich inside.
- Bacon
- Renders fat for frying the liver and adds savory, salty flavor.
The step that matters
Brown the liver quickly on both sides. Liver is lean and delicate. Brief, high heat browns the surface and keeps the inside tender, while longer cooking tightens its proteins and makes it dry and grainy.
“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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