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Stewed Oysters

A quick oyster stew made with oyster liquor, water, salt, pepper, powdered cracker, and cream or milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Oyster and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,886 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Stewed Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stew

  1. Combine oyster liquor and water in a stewpan.

  2. Add salt, pepper, and powdered cracker, then bring to a boil.

  3. Once boiling, add the oysters and count 30 seconds.

Serve

  1. Remove from heat and pour into a tureen with cream or milk.

  2. Stir and serve immediately.

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. Oyster + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,886 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,663 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Pepper + creamtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Pepper and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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 tender texture, cooked briefly so they stay plump.
Oyster liquor
Adds concentrated oyster flavor and salinity to the broth.
Powdered cracker
Thickens the broth slightly so it has body.
Cream or milk
Adds richness and a mild sweetness that softens the brininess.

The step that matters

Adding the oysters to the boil. Oysters toughen and shrink when overcooked. Adding them to the boiling liquid for only about 30 seconds cooks them just through while keeping them tender and juicy.

“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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