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Scalloped Oysters

Scalloped oysters are oysters topped with breadcrumbs, butter, and seasonings, baked briefly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and lemon 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 ↓

Scalloped Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Ensure oysters are fresh.

  2. Remove the beard (muscle) from each oyster.

  3. Place a small saucer with fine breadcrumbs.

Assemble and bake

  1. Place oysters on the breadcrumbs, season with cayenne pepper and salt.

  2. Add a few drops of vinegar or lemon juice to the oysters.

  3. Cover oysters with breadcrumbs and dot with small pieces of butter.

  4. Cook for five minutes in a quick oven, or until crumbs turn light brown.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

108Calories
10 gProtein
3 gFat
11 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Oyster6 medium (84g)81
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

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. See the original page.

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. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Vinegar + lemontop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,334 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

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

  5. Oyster + lemontop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,942 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

Oysters
Form the main body of the dish, cooked gently in their own juices under the crumbs.
Breadcrumbs (in the method)
Form a crust that browns in the oven and shields the oysters from direct heat.
Butter (in the method)
Adds fat and richness, and helps the top crumbs brown in the oven.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the oysters.

The step that matters

Cook for five minutes in a quick oven, or until crumbs turn light brown. Oysters cook quickly and turn rubbery if overheated. The crumbs should brown just as the oysters firm, so the timing must be watched closely.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, pepper, vinegar):

  1. Limefits about as well
  2. Lemonthe original
  3. Cherryfits about as well
  4. Plumfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, pepper, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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