Why it works: Pepper and lime match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,491 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Liver and Bacon
Ingredients
Directions
Remove the rind from the bacon and fry it in a pan until crisp. Transfer to a hot dish.
Wipe the liver strips with a damp cloth, then dust with flour, pepper, and salt.
Fry the liver in the hot bacon fat, adding butter if there isn't enough fat. Cook thoroughly, turning frequently.
For gravy, sprinkle flour into the pan with the remaining fat, add pepper, salt, warm water, lime juice, and cayenne pepper. Thicken and pour over the liver and 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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Pepper + limetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,491 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + limetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,381 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Liver + buttertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,065 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the lime
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, flour, pepper, butter):
- Lemonfits better
- Limethe original
- Plumfits less well
- Grapefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against liver, flour, pepper, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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