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Oyster Souffle

A baked oyster soufflé made with oysters, butter, flour, milk, eggs, breadcrumbs, and butter topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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 ↓

Oyster Souffle

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the oysters

  1. Boil the oysters with a little water.

  2. Chop the oysters coarsely.

Make the base

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the flour and stir for 1 minute.

  2. Add the hot milk and stir well.

  3. Season with salt and red pepper. Cook for 10 minutes.

  4. Strain the mixture.

  5. Add the chopped oysters. Reheat the mixture.

  6. Gradually stir in the egg yolks until they begin to set. Remove from heat.

Bake and serve

  1. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.

  2. Gently mix the egg whites with the other ingredients.

  3. Fill ramekins with the mixture. Sprinkle with fried breadcrumbs. Sprinkle melted butter on top.

  4. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 12 minutes until browned.

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 + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  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. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they 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 flavor and bulk of the savory filling.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air so the souffle rises and becomes light.
Egg yolks
Thicken the base as they set and add richness to the custard.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor to the roux and browns the top.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth white sauce with the butter.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce that holds the souffle together.

The step that matters

Gently mix the egg whites with the other ingredients. Whipped egg whites hold the air that makes a souffle rise. Folding gently keeps that air in; stirring vigorously deflates the foam and the souffle will rise poorly.

“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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