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Fricasseed Oysters

A savory oyster stew with ham, veal broth, onions, and a creamy egg‑butter sauce, finished with lemon juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Fricasseed Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Take a slice of raw ham, which has been pickled but not smoked, and soak it in boiling water for half an hour.

  2. Cut the ham into small pieces.

  3. Put the ham pieces in a saucepan with two‑thirds of a pint of veal or chicken broth, well strained.

  4. Add the liquor from a quart of oysters, one small onion minced fine, a little chopped parsley, sweet marjoram, and pepper.

  5. Let the mixture simmer for twenty minutes, then boil rapidly for two or three minutes.

  6. Skim well and add one scant tablespoon of cornstarch, mixed smoothly in one‑third cup of milk.

  7. Stir constantly, and when it boils, add the oysters and one ounce of butter.

  8. Let it come to a boil, then remove the oysters to a deep dish.

  9. Beat one egg, and add to it gradually some of the hot broth; when cooked, stir it into the pan.

  10. Season with salt, and pour the whole over the oysters.

  11. When placed upon the table, squeeze the juice of a lemon over it.

Bake the pies

  1. For each pie, take a tin plate half the size of an ordinary dinner plate; butter it and cover the bottom with a puff pastry, as for pies.

  2. Lay on it five or six select oysters, or enough to cover the bottom; butter them and season with a little salt and plenty of pepper.

  3. Spread over this an egg batter, and cover with a crust of the pastry, making small openings in it with a fork.

  4. Bake in a hot oven fifteen to twenty minutes, or until the top is nicely browned.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1158Calories
65 gProtein
43 gFat
124 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 11 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Pork100g cooked242
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Oyster6 medium (84g)81
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Vealnot 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 F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Ham + oystertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together360 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,103 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Provide the main seafood flavor and tender texture in the fricassee and pies.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, rounded flavor to the sauce and oysters.
Cornstarch
Thickens the broth so it becomes a smooth, lightly coating sauce.
Egg
Enriches and thickens the sauce and forms the set batter in the pie top.
Milk
Mixed with cornstarch to thicken the broth and add softness to the sauce.
Raw ham
Adds savory, salty depth to the broth as it simmers.

The step that matters

Thickening the broth with cornstarch and egg. Cornstarch must be mixed smoothly in cold milk and stirred while it boils, or it clumps. The egg should be added gradually to hot broth first so it does not scramble, then stirred back in gently to thicken without curdling.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, ham, veal, oyster, onion, egg):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Capersfits about as well
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Celeryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, ham, veal, oyster, onion, egg. 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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