Why it works: Oyster and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,545 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Pigs in Blankets
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the oysters
Remove gills from oysters and season each with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Wrap each oyster in a slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick.
Cook and serve
Heat a frying pan until very hot and cook the wrapped oysters until the bacon is crispy, being careful not to burn it.
After removing the oysters, add the bread and enough water to the frying pan to steam.
Cover the pan and let the bread steam, then remove the cover and turn the bread until well browned.
Serve the pigs in blankets on the fried bread while hot.
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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Oyster + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,545 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,663 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
- Oysters
- Form the centre of each bite, becoming tender and briny when cooked through.
- Beachnut bacon
- Wraps each oyster, crisping in the hot pan and adding fat and savoury flavour.
- Bread
- Soaks up the bacon fat and steam, then browns to form a crisp base for the oysters.
The step that matters
Cooking the wrapped oysters over very high heat. Bacon must render and crisp before the oysters overcook, and too much heat will burn the bacon before the fat has rendered out, leaving it tough or bitter.
“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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