Why it works: Liver and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 28% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,418 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Calf's Liver
Ingredients
Directions
Pour boiling water over the liver slices and let them stand for 10 minutes.
Roll the liver in flour.
Fry the liver in drippings, turning often until well done.
Just before serving, add the bacon slices to the pan and fry until crisp.
Serve the liver and bacon together on a hot platter.
If the flour has burned in the pan, remove the liver and wipe out the pan before adding the 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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Liver + flourtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,418 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Calf's liver
- Main protein; frying it until well done firms and cooks the meat through.
- Flour
- Forms a dry coating that helps the liver brown and gives the surface some crispness.
- Drippings
- Fat for frying that conducts heat evenly and adds savoury flavour to the liver.
- Bacon
- Adds salty, smoky fat and crisp texture to serve alongside the liver.
The step that matters
Clearing burned flour before adding the bacon. Flour that scorches in the pan turns bitter and dark, and those burnt bits can flavour the bacon. Removing the liver and wiping the pan keeps the bacon clean-tasting.
“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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