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Scalloped Oysters

Scalloped oysters are baked oysters coated in egg, breadcrumbs, butter, and cream, seasoned with salt, pepper, and celery.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. 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 the oysters

  1. Rinse, drain, and dry the oysters.

  2. Dip each oyster in the beaten egg, then roll in the breadcrumb mixture.

Layer and bake

  1. Arrange the oysters in layers in a shallow baking dish, dusting each layer with salt, pepper, and chopped celery.

  2. Add 2 tablespoons of cream to each layer.

  3. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 25 to 40 minutes, depending on the depth of the dish.

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. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

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

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

  5. Oyster + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,886 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Form the main body of the dish and give it its briny, savoury flavour.
Egg
Binds the breadcrumbs to each oyster so the coating stays in place while baking.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that contrasts with the soft oyster inside.
Butter
Adds fat that helps the breadcrumbs brown and taste rich.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the layers from drying out in the oven.

The step that matters

Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 25 to 40 minutes, depending on the depth of the dish.. Oysters overcook quickly and turn rubbery when heated too long. Watching the time against the dish depth helps the oysters cook through while the coating browns.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, egg, butter, pepper, cream):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, egg, butter, pepper, cream. 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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