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Oyster Soup

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,057 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Oyster Soup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Heat the stock and milk slowly over a low fire until warm, keeping it white.

  2. Cool the mixture, then add the oyster liquor and gills.

  3. Season with salt, cayenne, peppercorns, mace, anchovy, and Harvey sauce.

  4. Stir until boiling, then boil quickly and skim well.

  5. Add the cream and strain through a sieve over the oysters before serving.

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.

  1. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Anchovy + oystertop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together603 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sauce + oystertop 14% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Cream + anchovytop 15% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together798 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, cream, pepper, anchovy, sauce, oyster):

  1. Capersbetter flavor fit
  2. Celerybetter flavor fit
  3. Nutmegbetter flavor fit
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, cream, pepper, anchovy, sauce, oyster. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

More oyster soup recipes

Mock 19White 16Vegetable 8Chicken 3Cream 3 See all 520 →

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