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Oyster Bisque

A creamy oyster soup made with celery, milk, butter, flour, and seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Elizabeth Lyles Wilson (1860–1924) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Oyster Bisque

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop celery finely and boil for one-half hour in a pint of water.

  2. Cut oysters finely and cook for ten minutes in their own liquor.

Make the bisque

  1. Rub flour and butter together in a double boiler.

  2. Gradually add a quart of milk to the flour-butter mixture.

  3. Add the celery and oysters to the milk.

  4. Season with salt and pepper to taste and cook for twenty minutes.

  5. Strain the mixture.

Serve

  1. Serve in bouillon cups with one spoon of whipped cream on each cup.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

614Calories
14 gProtein
18 gFat
97 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
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 Mary Elizabeth Lyles Wilson (1860–1924). 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 + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

  5. 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

Butter
Enriches the flavor and, with flour, forms a roux that thickens the bisque.
Flour
Combined with butter to form a roux that thickens the milk into a smooth body.
Whipped cream
Adds richness and a light, creamy topping to each serving.

The step that matters

Gradually add a quart of milk to the flour-butter mixture.. Adding milk slowly while stirring lets the roux disperse evenly, preventing lumps and giving a smooth, well-thickened bisque.

“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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