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Soup

Oyster Stew

A stew of fresh oysters and their liquor cooked in milk, thickened with flour and enriched with butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Shutt, William E., Mrs., [from old catalog] comp · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Oyster Stew

Ingredients

Directions

  1. To one and a half pints of new milk, add the liquor of one can of fresh oysters and one half teacup of butter.

  2. Let it come to a boil.

  3. Mix two teaspoonsful of flour with a little milk and pour into the stew.

  4. Add the oysters.

  5. Season with pepper and salt to taste.

  6. Boil half a minute and serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

563Calories
13 gProtein
13 gFat
96 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
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.

By Shutt, William E., Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. 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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Milk (in the method)
Forms the liquid base of the stew and carries the other flavors.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the broth.
Flour
Thickens the milk so the stew becomes creamy rather than watery.
Oysters (in the method)
Provide the main briny, savory flavor of the stew.

The step that matters

Boil half a minute and serve. Oysters toughen and shrink when overcooked, so they should be heated only until their edges curl and they are just warmed through.

“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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