Skip to main content
Main

Scalloped Oysters

Scalloped oysters are baked oysters topped with cracker crumbs, butter, egg, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Scalloped Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Butter a deep baking dish.

  3. Layer half of the cracker crumbs on the bottom of the dish.

  4. Wet the crumbs with some oyster liquor.

Layer and bake

  1. Add a layer of oysters, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and add small bits of butter.

  2. Repeat the layers with the remaining ingredients, finishing with a layer of cracker crumbs on top.

  3. Beat the egg with the milk and pour it over the entire dish.

  4. Cover the dish and bake for 30 to 45 minutes.

  5. Uncover and place under the broiler to brown the top.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Cracker crumbs
Form the bulk of the layers and soak up the liquid to set a soft, absorbent body.
Oysters
Provide the main flavour and tender, briny texture of the dish.
Egg
Binds the milk into a custard that sets the layers together when baked.
Milk
Softens the crumbs and, with the egg, forms a custard that keeps the dish moist.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the top brown under the broiler.

The step that matters

Cover the dish and bake. Covering traps steam so the custard sets and the oysters cook gently without drying out. Baking uncovered too long would toughen the custard and dry the crumbs.

“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.

You might also like

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