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Pickled Oysters

Pickled oysters boiled with salt, vinegar, sugar, spices, cooled, and preserved in jars.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 21 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Pickled Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the oysters

  1. Wash oysters well in their own liquor. Carefully clear away the particles of shell.

  2. Put them into a kettle. Strain the liquor over them. Add salt to your taste.

  3. Let them just come to the boiling point, or until the edges curl up. Skim them out and lay in a dish to cool.

Make the pickling liquor

  1. Put a sprig of mace and a little cold pepper.

  2. Allow the liquor to boil some time, skimming it now and then so long as any skum rises. Pour it into a pan and let it cool.

  3. When perfectly cool, add a half pint of strong vinegar.

Pack and pickle

  1. Place the oysters in a jar and pour the liquor over them.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

222Calories
13 gProtein
4 gFat
37 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 14 ingredients. The other 4 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Oyster6 medium (84g)81
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
White Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Macenot in our table0
Seednot in our table0
Cassianot 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. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Mustard + tomatotop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,482 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Mace + cassiatop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together40 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Are the main food being preserved, and they firm up when briefly heated.
Vinegar
Acidifies the liquor, which preserves the oysters and gives them their sharp flavor.
Salt
Seasons the oysters and the liquor, and helps draw out liquid and firm the flesh.

The step that matters

Heating the oysters only until the edges curl. Oysters overcook quickly and turn tough and rubbery. Stopping at the first curl keeps them tender, while the liquor is then boiled separately and cooled before the vinegar is added so the vinegar's sharpness is not lost to heat.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, vinegar, sugar, pepper, mustard, cassia, tomato):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, vinegar, sugar, pepper, mustard, cassia, tomato. 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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