Name: Escalloped Oysters
Ingredients: Oysters; Butter; Bread crumbs; Milk; Salt; Pepper

Why it works: Butter and bread match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 27,145 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

The recipe

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Remove the shells from the oysters and place them in a baking dish.
Melt butter in a pan and mix in bread crumbs, salt, and pepper.
Layer the bread crumb mixture over the oysters.
Pour milk over the top and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Butter + breadtop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together27,145 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + milktop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together81,222 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Bread + milktop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together11,363 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Oyster + breadtop 5% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together2,544 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Oyster + buttertop 5% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together8,175 recipes

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