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Liver and Bacon Saute

A sautéed liver dish with bacon and a thickened sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Liver and Bacon Saute

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the liver

  1. Scald the liver.

  2. Wipe the liver dry.

  3. Dust the liver with flour.

Cook the bacon and liver

  1. Cook the bacon in a sauté pan until lightly browned.

  2. Remove the bacon and keep warm.

  3. Cook the liver in the bacon fat until browned.

  4. Sprinkle the liver with salt and pepper.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. Arrange the liver on a platter.

  2. Place a slice of bacon on each piece of liver.

  3. Mix the tablespoon of flour with the remaining fat in the pan.

  4. Add boiling water to the mixture.

  5. Stir until the sauce boils and thickens.

  6. Add salt and pepper to the sauce if needed.

  7. Pour the sauce over the meat.

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. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Liver + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Liver + flourtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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
Is the main protein, cooked quickly so it browns on the outside while staying tender inside.
Flour
Coats the liver and, mixed with pan fat and water, thickens the sauce.
Bacon
Adds savoury, salty fat that browns the liver and flavours the pan sauce.

The step that matters

Cook the liver in the bacon fat until browned. Liver turns tough and grainy when overcooked. Browning over fairly high heat for a short time seals the surface while keeping the inside tender.

“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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