Name: Oyster Soup
Ingredients: 2 quarts of good mutton broth; 1 tablespoonful of ketchup; 1/2 teaspoonful of chopped parsley; 1/2 pint of oysters; 1/2 pint of milk; 1/2 pint of vinegar; 2 tablespoonfuls of white stock; 2 tablespoonfuls of cream; 1 pint of oysters; 1/3 pint of cream; 1 gill of milk; 1/8 saltspoonful of salt; 1 pint of cream; 1/2 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg; 1/2 pint of new milk; 3 tablespoonfuls of flour; 3 tablespoonfuls of snow; a small piece of lemon-peel boiled; a small piece of butter; 6 dozen oysters; 8 persons; 3 dozen oysters; 4 persons; 2 eggs; 1 blade of pounded mace; 1 strip of lemon-peel; 12 black peppercorns; 1 pint; one boil; 6 persons

Why it works: Parsley and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,062 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. 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.

Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,062 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ketchup + creamtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together279 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,920 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,685 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ketchup + oystertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together318 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters: Provide the main flavour and tender texture of the soup, with their liquor adding savoury depth.
Flour: Thickens the broth into a smooth body when cooked with butter.
Butter: Enriches the soup and carries flavour through the thickened base.
Mutton broth: Forms the savoury liquid base that carries the other flavours.

The step that matters

Put the oysters into the soup, stir well, but do not let it boil. Oysters toughen and shrink when overheated, so they should be added at the end and kept just below boiling to stay tender and plump.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, ketchup, oyster, milk, vinegar, cream, nutmeg):

Allspicefits better
Cinnamonfits better
Celeryfits better
Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, ketchup, oyster, milk, vinegar, cream, nutmeg. 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
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Oyster	6 medium (84g)	81
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Cayenne	1 tsp (1.8g)	6
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Mutton	not in our table	0
Mace	not in our table	0
Pancake	not in our table	0

Oyster Soup

Oyster Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the oysters

Make the soup

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)