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Scalloped Oysters

Scalloped oysters are baked with bread crumbs, eggs, butter, salt, cayenne pepper, and optional nutmeg or mace.

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

Scalloped Oysters

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Rinse the oysters in cold water.

  2. Mix the crumbled bread with the chopped eggs, salt, and cayenne pepper.

Layer

  1. Cover the bottom of a deep pie dish with the egg and crumb mixture.

  2. Layer the oysters on top, adding small pieces of butter between layers.

  3. Continue layering until all oysters are used, reserving some crumbs for the top.

  4. If desired, add a pinch of nutmeg or mace.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 45 minutes.

  2. Serve hot.

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

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

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,663 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

Oysters
Form the main filling, adding savory flavor and a tender, briny texture as they cook.
Baker's loaf
Forms the crumb layers that soak up oyster liquor and give the dish body.
Hard-boiled eggs
Add richness and body to the crumb mixture, helping it bind and set.
Butter
Adds fat between layers, enriching flavor and helping the top brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Reserving crumbs for the top. Crumbs left over the oysters form a protective, browning layer; without them the oysters may dry out or overcook at the surface while the dish bakes.

“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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