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Mock Fried Oysters

A fried cake made from mashed oyster plant, eggs, cream, butter, flour, and baking powder.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter 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 ↓

Mock Fried Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetable

  1. Scrape and cut the oyster plant into small pieces.

  2. Boil in salted water until tender, then drain and mash.

  3. Once cool, squeeze through a potato ricer.

  4. Beat the strained vegetable with a fork until light.

  5. Season with salt and pepper.

Make the batter

  1. Add eggs, cream, melted butter, flour, and baking powder.

Cook the cakes

  1. Heat a griddle to medium‑high heat.

  2. Drop the mixture onto the griddle to form cakes the size of fried oysters.

  3. Cook until done in the center, testing with a fork.

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. Cream + buttertop 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. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

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

  4. Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,103 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Oyster plant
Forms the main body of the cakes and gives them their mild, oyster-like flavour.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set firm as the cakes cook.
Flour
Adds body and helps the cakes hold their shape on the griddle.
Baking powder
Releases gas that lightens the mixture and gives the cakes a softer texture.
Melted butter
Adds fat for richness and helps the cakes brown on the griddle.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the cakes tender.

The step that matters

Cook until done in the center, testing with a fork. Medium-high heat can brown the outside before the centre sets. Testing with a fork confirms the egg and flour mixture is cooked through, so the cakes are firm inside rather than wet or gummy.

“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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