Skip to main content
Main

Broiled Oysters

Broiled oysters served with melted butter, cracker crumbs, sea salt, Maitre d’Hétel Butter, and watercress.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Oyster and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,184 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Broiled Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the oysters and dry them between towels.

  2. Dip the oysters in melted butter, then coat with seasoned cracker crumbs.

  3. Place the oysters in a greased wire broiler.

Broil and serve

  1. Broil over a clear fire, turning frequently, until the juices begin to flow.

  2. Remove to a hot serving dish, spread with Maitre d’Hétel Butter, and garnish with watercress.

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. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  2. Oyster + watercresstop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together62 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  3. Butter + watercresstop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together842 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

Oysters
Main ingredient; the heat firms the flesh and releases their juices as they cook.
Melted butter
Carries the cracker crumbs and promotes browning and a rich, moist coating.
Fine cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust that helps hold the juices in the oysters.
Maitre d’hétel butter
Adds fat and herbal, savory flavor melting over the hot oysters.

The step that matters

Broil until the juices begin to flow. Oysters turn tough and rubbery when overcooked. Stop once the edges curl and the juices start to run, since they keep cooking from residual heat.

“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.

More broiled oysters recipes

on Toast 4 See all 108 →

You might also like

Mock Oyster SoupMock Oyster Soup21 recipesCorn FrittersCorn Fritters6 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipes