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Fish Soup with Oysters

A light soup made with fish, oysters, milk, egg yolk, and cream, seasoned with pepper and sea salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Haddock and cream work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 181 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Fish Soup with Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the fish and oysters

  1. Put the oysters into a small saucepan with their liquor and heat them almost to boiling point.

  2. In a separate pan, melt the butter and add the fish, cooking until just done.

  3. Add the cold water to the fish and bring to a boil.

  4. Stir in the milk, then add the heated oysters.

Finish and serve

  1. In a bowl, beat the yolk of egg and cream together.

  2. Remove the soup from heat and strain in the egg and cream mixture, stirring constantly.

  3. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt, then 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. Haddock + creamtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together181 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

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

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

  4. Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

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

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

Butter
Adds richness and flavour when melted with the fish at the start.
Fish (in the method)
Provides the main body and savoury flavour of the soup.
Oysters
Add a briny, sea-like flavour and tender texture to the soup.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mild sweetness, softening the broth.
Egg yolk
Thickens the soup and gives it a smooth, rich texture when stirred in gently.
Cream
Adds fat and richness, giving a silky mouthfeel alongside the egg yolk.

The step that matters

Strain in the egg and cream mixture. Egg yolk can curdle if it meets a very hot liquid too quickly. Removing the soup from heat and stirring constantly lets the yolk thicken it smoothly instead of scrambling.

“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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