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Scalloped Oysters

A baked oyster dish topped with bread crumbs and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Scalloped Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Butter a baking dish and cover the bottom with a layer of bread crumbs.

  3. Moisten the crumbs with ½ cup cream or milk.

Assemble and bake

  1. Add oysters and their liquor, seasoning with salt, pepper, and bits of butter.

  2. Cover with more bread crumbs and place additional butter on top.

  3. Cover the dish and bake for 30 to 45 minutes until the juices bubble.

  4. Remove the cover and brown the top for a few minutes.

  5. Serve in the baking dish or in scallop shells, garnished with parsley.

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 + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  3. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  5. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Provide the main ingredient, releasing their briny liquor that flavours the dish as it bakes.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp layer on top and absorb moisture from the oysters and cream.
Cream or milk
Moistens the crumbs and forms a creamy sauce with the oyster liquor as it heats.
Flour
Thickens the liquid so the juices become a binding sauce rather than running thin.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, helping the top brown during baking.

The step that matters

Cover the dish and bake for 30 to 45 minutes until the juices bubble. Covering traps steam so the oysters cook gently without drying out, while bubbling juices show the sauce has thickened and the oysters are cooked through.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, cream, flour, pepper, nutmeg, butter, bread):

  1. Cinnamonfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Marjoramfits about as well
  4. Sagefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, cream, flour, pepper, nutmeg, butter, bread. 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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