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Fricasseed Oysters

A savory oyster dish simmered with ham, broth, onions, herbs, and thickened with corn starch, finished with butter, egg, and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,979 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Fricasseed Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ham

  1. Soak the pickled ham in boiling water for 30 minutes.

  2. Cut the ham into small pieces.

Make the sauce

  1. Place the ham in a saucepan with the broth, oyster liquid, minced onion, parsley, marjoram, and pepper.

  2. Simmer for 20 minutes.

  3. Boil rapidly for 2-3 minutes.

  4. Skim the surface.

  5. Add the corn starch mixed with milk.

  6. Stir constantly until it boils.

  7. Add the oysters and butter.

  8. Bring the mixture just to a boil.

  9. Remove the oysters to a deep dish.

  10. Beat the egg.

  11. Gradually mix in some hot broth.

  12. Stir the egg mixture into the pan.

  13. Season with salt.

Serve

  1. Pour the mixture over the oysters.

  2. Squeeze lemon juice over the dish before serving.

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. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Marjoram + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  5. Marjoram + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together89 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Main ingredient that gives the fricassee its flavor and is gently heated so it stays tender.
Corn starch
Thickens the broth into a smooth sauce as it heats and boils.
Egg
Enriches and thickens the sauce, giving it a richer, creamier body when stirred in.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the sauce a smooth, rounded flavor.
Pickled raw ham
Adds salty, savory meat flavor to the broth as it simmers.
Milk
Mixed with the corn starch to add creaminess and body to the sauce.

The step that matters

Stirring the egg into the hot sauce. If the egg meets very hot liquid without enough gradual mixing, it can scramble and curdle. Tempering it with some hot broth first and then stirring gently keeps the sauce smooth.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, veal, oyster, parsley, marjoram, pepper, corn):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, veal, oyster, parsley, marjoram, pepper, corn. 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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