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Oyster Omelets

A fried dish of oysters, eggs, milk, and cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Oyster Omelets

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the oysters finely.

  2. In a bowl, combine the chopped oysters, beaten eggs, sweet milk, cracker crumbs, salt, and pepper.

  3. Add chopped parsley if desired.

Cook

  1. Heat lard in a skillet over medium-high heat.

  2. Pour the mixture into the skillet and fry until golden brown on both sides.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,103 recipes

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

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Oyster + milktop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,933 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,765 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Provide the main savory flavor and tender bite of the omelette.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set into the structure of the omelette.
Sweet milk
Adds moisture, keeping the eggs tender rather than dry.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb liquid and add body to the mixture.
Lard
Conducts heat to the mixture and browns the surface through frying.

The step that matters

Frying the omelette on both sides. Cooking over medium-high heat can brown the outside before the eggs set in the center. Keeping the heat controlled lets the interior cook through while the surface turns golden.

Swap the parsley

The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, egg, milk, pepper):

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Dillfits about as well
  4. Marjoramfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, egg, milk, pepper. 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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