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Canned Pickled Oysters

A preserved oyster dish preserved in white wine vinegar with mace, cloves, black pepper, and red pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Goff, May Perrin, [from old catalog] ed · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Canned Pickled Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Heat the oysters

  1. Put oysters, liquor and all, into a porcelain kettle. Salt to the taste.

  2. Heat slowly until the oysters are very hot, but not boiling.

  3. Take them out with a perforated skimmer and set aside to cool.

Pickle and pack

  1. To the liquor which remains in the kettle add the vinegar and spices.

  2. Boil up fairly, and when the oysters are nearly cold, pour it over them scalding hot.

  3. Cover and put away in a cool place.

  4. Next day put them into glass cans with tight tops.

  5. If you open a can use up the contents as soon as possible.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

99Calories
10 gProtein
3 gFat
8 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Oyster6 medium (84g)81
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Macenot in our table0

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

By Goff, May Perrin, [from old catalog] ed. 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. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  5. White wine + clovetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,715 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Form the dish itself, supplying the main texture and briny flavor once cooked and pickled.
White wine vinegar
Provides the acidity that pickles the oysters and gives them their tang.
Mace
Adds warm, aromatic flavor to the pickling liquor.
Whole cloves
Contribute strong aromatic spice to the pickling liquor.
Whole black peppercorns
Add pungent, aromatic heat to the pickling liquor.

The step that matters

Pour the scalding pickle over the oysters at the right moment. Oysters held in liquid that is too hot keep cooking and toughen, so they should be nearly cold before the boiling pickle is poured over them. Pouring it scalding hot while they are still cool-ish helps the vinegar penetrate and the mixture stay safe to store.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, vinegar, oyster, clove, pepper. 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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