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Oyster Patties

Oyster patties are baked pastry shells filled with oysters and seasoned with herbs and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and chervil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 824 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Oyster Patties

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Line deep gem pans with puff paste.

  2. Add 2 teaspoons of cream to each pan.

  3. Sprinkle with chopped parsley, tarragon, and chervil.

  4. Season with mace, red pepper, and nutmeg to taste.

  5. Place 2 oysters in each patty.

  6. Sprinkle with grated lemon rind and a small amount of lemon juice.

  7. Moisten with oyster liquor.

  8. Cover with bread crumbs.

  9. Garnish the tops with a ring of puff paste.

Bake and serve

  1. Place on a baking tin and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes.

  2. Serve immediately on a hot dish garnished with sprigs of watercress.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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. Tarragon + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together824 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Parsley + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Parsley + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together774 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Puff paste
Forms the crisp, flaky case that holds the filling while it bakes.
Oysters
Provide the main savoury filling and their briny flavour.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture to the filling so it stays tender.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the liquids and help form a lightly crisp, golden topping.

The step that matters

Baking time and temperature. Oysters cook quickly and turn tough and rubbery if overbaked, so the patties should be removed as soon as the pastry is risen and golden.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, parsley, tarragon, chervil, pepper, nutmeg, oyster):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, parsley, tarragon, chervil, pepper, nutmeg, oyster. 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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