Why it works: Oyster and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,582 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells grass, green. The science ↓
Oyster Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Set a basin on the fire with half pint oysters, from which all bits of shell have been picked, and one pint boiling water.
Let boil three minutes.
Skim well.
Stir in half a cup butter beaten to a cream, with two table-spoons flour.
Let this come to a boil.
Serve
Serve with boiled turkey.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 2 of 3 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 2 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Oyster | 6 medium (84g) | 81 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
-
Oyster + flourtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,582 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (grass, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Oysters
- Provides the main savoury flavour of the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce as it heats, giving it body.
“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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