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Oyster Patties

A patty made from oysters, butter, flour, liquor, cream, eggs, lemon juice, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.) · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Oyster Patties

Ingredients

Directions

Make the oyster filling

  1. Take 1½ dozen oysters, scald them in their own liquor—be careful that they do not remain in a moment after it boils.

  2. Take them out and cut each oyster into fine pieces if they are large.

  3. Put a dessert spoon of butter in a saucepan, with the same of flour.

  4. Pour in 1 gill of the liquor (strained), 1 gill of cream, 1 saltspoon of salt, and ½ saltspoon of white pepper.

  5. Boil all, stirring until smooth.

  6. Beat the yolks of 2 eggs.

  7. Add the beaten yolks with the cut oysters to the sauce.

  8. Let all get hot together, stirring all the time; it must be very thick—just before boiling point.

  9. Take from the fire quickly, stirring all the time to prevent the eggs from curdling.

  10. Add a few drops of lemon juice and a suspicion of nutmeg.

Shape

  1. Place in pattie pan shapes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

159Calories
8 gProtein
12 gFat
7 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
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Liquornot 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 Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.). 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. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. White pepper + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. White pepper + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,658 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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 (in the method)
Provide the main flavour and tender pieces that sit within the sauce.
Eggs
Yolks thicken the cream sauce and bind the filling as it heats.
Cream
Adds richness and body to the sauce, giving it a smooth texture.
Flour (in the method)
Thickens the butter and liquor base so the sauce holds its shape.
Butter (in the method)
Adds fat and richness, and forms the base for the flour roux.

The step that matters

Heating the egg yolks. Once the yolks go in, the sauce must stay just below boiling and be taken off the heat quickly while stirring. Higher heat makes the egg proteins set and curdle, leaving the filling grainy.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, egg, lemon, nutmeg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, egg, lemon, 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.

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