Name: National Grocery Co
Ingredients: 1 pint oysters in their own liquor; 1 tablespoonful flour; 1 cup muk; 1 pint oysters in their own liquor until the edges curl; 1 tablespoonful butter; one cupful of soft bread crumbs; 2 tablespoonfuls of butter; 2 cupfuls of half-boiled rice stir three tablespoonfuls of melted butter; a quart of boiling water over a pint of oysters; a pint of oysters; a saltspoonful of salt; a pinch of nutmeg; a slice of butter brown; a tablespoonful of canned tomatoes; a pint of oysters fine; a pinch of mustard; a cupful of strained oyster juice; a teaspoonful of lemon juice; a tablespoonful of tomato catsup; a teaspoonful of pre- pared mustard; a pint of chopped oysters; 41 oyster loaf; 1 table- spoonful butter; 2 eggs slightly beaten; two eggs; two sauces; 42 one thousand favorite recipes shallot sauce; 3 young onions very fine; 1 small teaspoonful of cider vinegar; 3 lemons

Why it works: Rice and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,065 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

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.

Rice + tomatotop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,065 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Nutmeg + mustardtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,019 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Rice + nutmegtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,779 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters: Provide the main filling and the briny flavour of the dish.
Butter: Adds richness and helps the oysters brown lightly when fried.
Bread crumbs: Soak up the oyster liquor and give the filling body.

The step that matters

Fry oysters until nearly finished. Oysters turn tough and shrink when overcooked, so they should be removed from heat while still tender and finish cooking in the loaf.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, flour, butter, bread, rice, nutmeg, mustard):

Shallotfits better
Horseradishfits better
Chivefits better
Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, flour, butter, bread, rice, nutmeg, mustard. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Oyster	6 medium (84g)	81
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Shallot	1 tbsp minced (10g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Cayenne	1 tsp (1.8g)	6
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Liquor	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0
Sauce	not in our table	0
Cider	not in our table	0

National Grocery Co