Name: Blanche Kammerer
Ingredients: a quart of rich milk to boiling point; a tablespoon of butter; salt; pepper

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 81,283 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Blanche Kammerer

Ingredients

a quart of rich milk to boiling point
a tablespoon of butter
salt
pepper

Directions

OYSTER STEW — Heat a quart of rich milk to boiling point, add a tablespoon of butter, salt and pepper. Heat the oysters in their own liquor, skim off scum, add to milk, boil together one minute or until oysters curl. Serve with toasted crackers.

By Paidar, Marie, 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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together26,984 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).