Why it works: Butter and cream match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 41,494 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Oysters a LA Newburg
Ingredients
Directions
Make the oysters
Place the oysters in their own liquor over medium heat and stir until boiling.
Drain the oysters carefully.
Make the sauce
Melt the butter and add the flour. Mix well.
Pour in the cream or milk and bring to a boil.
Add the egg yolks and oysters.
Bring back to a boil.
Season to taste.
Serve
Transfer to a serving dish.
Sprinkle sherry over the top.
Arrange the crackers around the dish.
Serve immediately.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Butter + creamtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together41,494 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Oyster + eggtop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,093 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Oyster + buttertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together8,175 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Butter + sherrytop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Butter + flourtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together122,858 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 122,858 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Oysters
- Provide the main seafood flavor and the tender body of the dish.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that carries flavor into the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and cream into a smooth, stable sauce.
- Cream or milk
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce and adds richness and body.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich and thicken the sauce, giving it a silky texture.
- Sherry
- Adds acidity and aromatic depth to balance the rich sauce.
The step that matters
Adding the egg yolks. Egg yolks thicken when heated but can scramble and turn grainy if the sauce boils too hard or too long. Add them off the heat or at low heat, and keep the sauce just below boiling, so it stays smooth and creamy.
“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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