Name: Chafing Dish Oysters
Ingredients: a bunch of celery until tender; a quart of oysters; cayenne; black pepper; salt

Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Chafing Dish Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Stew a bunch of celery until tender. Drain liquor from can of mushrooms and add them to the celery and let them cook a few min- utes, put in generous piece of butter, then add a quart of oysters; season with cayenne or black pepper and salt. Thicken with cracker crumbs and lastly add a little cream. Serve very hot. — Mrs. Pearl W. Henkle.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

99Calories

10 gProtein

3 gFat

9 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 5 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Oyster	6 medium (84g)	81
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Cayenne	1 tsp (1.8g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 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 United Methodist Church (Grayville, Ill.). 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.

Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Celery + oystertop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,131 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,663 recipes

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