Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Oyster Soup, Amsterdam Style
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the oysters
Clean, pick over, chop, and parboil oysters.
Drain oysters and add to liquor, adding enough water to make one quart liquid.
Make the soup
Brown butter, add flour, and pour on gradually while stirring constantly into the oyster liquor.
Let simmer for one-half hour.
Season with salt, paprika, and celery salt.
Just before serving, add cream.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Oyster | 6 medium (84g) | 81 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Celery | 1 stalk (40g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| 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.
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
-
Flour + celerytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,905 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Oyster + creamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,886 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Oysters
- Provide the main body and briny flavor of the soup.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, and with the flour forms a roux that thickens the liquid.
- Flour
- Thickens the oyster liquor into a smooth, body-rich soup when cooked with the butter.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, mellow texture to the finished soup.
The step that matters
Pour the flour mixture in gradually while stirring constantly. Adding the browned butter and flour all at once can form lumps that are hard to smooth out. Gradual addition with constant stirring lets the starch disperse evenly and thicken the liquid smoothly.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, butter, flour, cream):
- Nutmegfits better
- Capersfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, butter, flour, cream. 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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