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Curried Oysters

A savory dish of oysters simmered in a buttery curry sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Curried Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Scald and drain the oysters, then dry them thoroughly and set aside in a shallow dish.

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, mix the butter, cornstarch, curry powder, oyster water, lemon juice, and Tabasco sauce.

  2. Heat the mixture slowly, then gradually add the milk while stirring vigorously.

  3. Once smooth, add salt and cayenne to taste.

Cook the oysters

  1. Add the oysters and cook for five minutes.

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. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Oyster + saucetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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 seafood flavour and tender texture when cooked briefly in the sauce.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying the curry flavour and giving the sauce a smooth mouthfeel.
Cornstarch
Thickens the liquid into a smooth sauce that clings to the oysters.
Curry powder
Supplies the main spice flavour and aroma of the dish.
Milk
Adds creaminess and moisture, softening the sauce's sharpness.

The step that matters

Adding the milk to the hot mixture. Milk added too quickly or without constant stirring can curdle or form lumps as proteins and starch set unevenly. Adding it gradually while stirring keeps the sauce smooth.

“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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