Skip to main content
Main

Corn Oysters

Corn Oysters are fried corn cakes made with grated corn, eggs, crackers, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Pepper and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Corn Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Combine grated corn, eggs, grated crackers, pepper, and salt in a bowl; beat well.

  2. For lighter cakes, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold in just before frying.

Fry the cakes

  1. Heat equal parts butter and lard or beef drippings in a skillet until hot but not scorching.

  2. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the skillet, forming cakes about the size of an oyster.

  3. Fry until brown, then turn and fry the other side, watching closely to prevent burning.

  4. Serve hot and keep the dish covered.

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. Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,324 recipes

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

  3. Corn + beeftop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,028 recipes

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

  4. Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,345 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Butter + beeftop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,847 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Corn
Forms the bulk of the cakes and supplies sweetness and moisture.
Eggs
Bind the batter together so the cakes hold their shape while frying.
Grated crackers
Absorb moisture and add body so the batter holds together.
Butter
Adds fat and flavor and helps the cakes brown in the pan.
Lard or beef drippings
Adds high-heat fat for frying and helps the cakes brown evenly.

The step that matters

Keep the skillet hot but not scorching. Medium-high fat heat browns the outside quickly, setting the cakes before they absorb too much fat. Scorching the butter, which has milk solids that burn easily, makes the cakes bitter and dark before the centers cook through.

“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.

More corn oysters recipes

Green 7 See all 52 →

You might also like

Roast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesCorn FrittersCorn Fritters203 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipesCorned BeefCorned Beef87 recipes