Skip to main content
Main

Liver Loaf

A baked loaf made from parboiled liver, egg, crackers, celery, butter, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Liver Loaf

Ingredients

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 liver

  1. Parboil the liver until tender.

Form the loaf

  1. Grind the liver and mix it with the beaten egg, rolled crackers, butter, chopped celery, and seasonings.

  2. Add a little water to the mixture and form it into a loaf.

Bake

  1. Place the loaf in a baking pan and fill the pan halfway with water.

  2. Bake at 350°F (175°C) and baste frequently.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Liver
Forms the main body of the loaf, giving it its meaty flavor and dense texture.
Egg
Binds the ground liver together so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Rolled crackers
Absorb moisture and help bind the mixture into a loaf.
Celery
Adds moisture and a fresh, mildly savory crunch to the dense mixture.

The step that matters

Forming the loaf with the right moisture. Adding too much water can make the mixture loose and hard to shape, while too little leaves it dry. The egg and crackers bind the ground liver, so the loaf keeps its form while baking.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, egg, butter, pepper, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg):

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, egg, butter, pepper, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg. 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.

You might also like

Cream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesCelery StewCelery Stew25 recipesCelery CroquettesCelery Croquettes16 recipesCelery Cream SoupCelery Cream Soup15 recipes