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With Livers

A stew of boiled geese livers simmered in broth, wine, gravy, peppercorns, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: White wine and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,890 recipes. Both carry myrcene, which smells balsamic, herbaceous. The science ↓

With Livers

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the livers

  1. Drop the geese livers in boiling water with a little salt and boil for 3 minutes.

  2. Drain the livers and set aside.

Make the stew

  1. In a saucepan, combine the broth, white wine, gravy, peppercorns, parsley, and salt.

  2. Add the livers to the saucepan and boil gently for about 25 minutes.

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. White wine + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,890 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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

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

  3. Liver + white winetop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together153 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

What each ingredient does

Geese livers
The main ingredient; gentle simmering cooks them through and keeps them tender.
Broth
Provides the liquid base and savory flavor for the stew.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the rich liver flavor.
Gravy
Adds savory depth and color to the cooking liquid.

The step that matters

Simmer the livers gently. Liver is delicate, and vigorous boiling toughens its proteins and can make it grainy and dry. A gentle simmer cooks it evenly and keeps it tender.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, white wine):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Sagefits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, white wine. 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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