Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Braised Liver
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the bacon into strips 1 inch long and ⅛ inch wide.
Use a larding needle to lard the liver with the bacon strips until one side is fully covered.
Melt the butter in a stewpan.
Add the larded liver.
Fry until browned, being careful not to burn it.
Remove the liver and set it on a plate.
Make the sauce
Stir the flour into the butter in the stewpan.
Pour in the stock or water.
Stir until it boils and thickens.
Braise and serve
Wash and scrape the carrot. Cut it in half.
Wash and peel the onion or button onions.
Add the vegetables and liver back to the stewpan.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add the bouquet garni.
Simmer gently for 2 hours.
Remove the liver from the stewpan and place it on a hot dish.
Strain the sauce over the liver.
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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Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,563 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,585 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sheep's liver
- Is the main dish, browned and then braised until tender in the sauce.
- Bacon fat
- Adds savoury fat and flavour that melts into the liver during long cooking.
- Flour
- Thickens the stock into a smooth sauce when cooked with the butter.
- Butter
- Carries the frying of the liver and forms the base for the flour roux.
- Onion
- Adds sweetness and savoury depth to the braising liquid as it cooks.
- Carrot
- Adds gentle sweetness and body to the braising liquid.
The step that matters
Frying the liver until browned without burning. Browning builds rich, savoury flavour through the Maillard reaction, but high heat that goes too far turns the surface bitter and dry before the long simmer.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, carrot, thyme, parsley, flour, pepper, butter):
- Parsnipfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Turnipfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against liver, carrot, thyme, parsley, flour, pepper, butter. 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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