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Liver, Stewed

Stewed liver with fried onions in plain gravy, seasoned with salt, pepper, optional parsley or sage, and bay leaf.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Liver, Stewed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the liver and cut it into half‑inch slices.

Simmer

  1. In a pot, combine the liver and fried onions with the plain gravy.

  2. Simmer gently for 1 to 2 hours, avoiding overcooking.

Serve

  1. Serve with bacon and a side of mashed potatoes or vegetables.

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.

  1. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Liver + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,420 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Liver + parsleytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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 meaty flavor of the dish.
Fried onions
Add sweetness and savory aroma as they soften into the gravy.
Plain gravy
Supplies moisture and cooks the liver gently, keeping slices tender.

The step that matters

Simmer gently and avoid overcooking. Liver is lean and its proteins tighten quickly under high heat or long cooking, making it tough and grainy. A gentle simmer and close attention to timing keep the slices tender and moist.

Swap the parsley

The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, onion, pepper):

  1. Garlicfits about as well
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Sagefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, onion, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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