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To Stew Oysters

Oysters simmered in cream and butter sauce seasoned with mace, cayenne, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Acton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 10 ingredients
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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 ↓

To Stew Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the oysters

  1. Open oysters carefully, not mangling them, and wash them free from grit in their own strained liquor.

Make the stew

  1. Lay the oysters into a very clean stewpan or well-tinned saucepan, strain the liquor a second time, pour it over the oysters, and heat them slowly.

  2. When the liquid is just beginning to simmer, lift the oysters out with a slice or a bored wooden spoon and remove their beards.

  3. Add to the liquor a quarter of a pint of good cream, a seasoning of pounded mace, cayenne, and a little salt.

  4. When the mixture boils, stir in one to two ounces of good butter, smoothly mixed with a large teaspoonful of flour.

  5. Continue to stir the sauce until the butter and flour are perfectly blended with it.

  6. Return the oysters to the sauce and let them remain by the side of the fire until they are very hot, about four or five minutes of nearly simmering.

Serve

  1. Serve garnished with pale fried sippets.

  2. Stir in a little lemon juice just as the stew is taken from the fire (optional).

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

695Calories
23 gProtein
21 gFat
101 gCarbs

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
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Oyster6 medium (84g)81
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Macenot 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 Eliza Acton. 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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  4. Oyster + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,886 recipes

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

  5. Cream + macetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,009 recipes

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
Are the main ingredient, poached gently in their own liquor so they stay tender.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and adds richness and a silky mouthfeel as it melts into the liquid.
Cream
Adds body and richness, giving the stew a smooth, mellow sauce.
Flour
Thickens the sauce when blended with butter, giving it body.

The step that matters

Stirring the butter and flour into the boiling liquor. Flour mixed with butter must be stirred until fully blended, or it forms lumps. Keeping the sauce just hot, not violently boiling, also helps it stay smooth and prevents the oysters from toughening.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, oyster, cream, flour):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Jalapenofits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, oyster, cream, flour. 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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