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Oystbb Stew

A stew of oysters simmered in scalded milk with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Oyster and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,933 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Oystbb Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the oysters

  1. Add 1 cup of cold water to 1 quart of oysters.

  2. Remove any bits of shell from the oysters and drain them in a colander over a bowl.

Make the stew

  1. Scald the oyster liquor and skim carefully.

  2. Add the oysters to the liquor and heat over high heat until simmering.

  3. When the oysters look plump, add 3 cups of scalded milk and season with salt and pepper.

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. Oyster + milktop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,933 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,663 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Main ingredient; cooking firms their flesh and releases a savory liquor that flavors the stew.
Milk
Forms the creamy liquid base and adds richness and mild sweetness to the stew.

The step that matters

Heating the oysters after they are added. Oysters toughen and shrink when overcooked. Heat them only until they plump and their edges curl, rather than letting the stew boil hard.

“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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