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Livers, a L'eficurienne

A dish of livers wrapped in bacon, simmered in wine mirepoix, then combined with truffles, quenelles, mushrooms, and brown fine-herbs sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Truffle and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,900 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Livers, a L'eficurienne

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the livers

  1. Wrap the livers in thin layers of bacon.

  2. Simmer gently in the wine mirepoix for 30 minutes.

  3. Remove from heat and let the livers cool in their liquid.

  4. Cut the livers into scallops without waste.

Finish the dish

  1. In a small deep sauté pan, combine the livers, truffles, quenelles, and mushrooms.

  2. Add half of the mirepoix, free from grease, and boil briskly until reduced to a glaze.

  3. Pour in the brown fine-herbs sauce and toss everything together over the heat.

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. Truffle + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,900 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Wine + mushroomtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,632 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).

  3. Scallop + saucetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together130 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Liver + truffletop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together395 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).

  5. Liver + mushroomtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together572 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

Strasbourg livers
Provide the rich, creamy base of the dish and its main flavour.
Bacon
Bastes the livers as it renders, adding fat and savoury, browned flavour.
Black perigord truffles
Contribute a concentrated, earthy aroma that defines the dish.
Wine mirepoix
Poaches the livers gently and its reduced liquid forms a flavourful glaze.
Game quenelles
Add a light, tender texture that contrasts with the soft livers.

The step that matters

Simmer the livers gently. Livers turn grainy and tough when boiled or overcooked, since their proteins tighten quickly at high heat. A gentle simmer keeps them tender and moist, so they hold together when cut into scallops.

“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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