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Oyster Broth

A light broth made from oysters, water, celery, parsley, salt, cayenne pepper, butter, and sweet cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Oyster Broth

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Put the oysters with their liquor and water in a saucepan.

  2. Add the chopped celery, chopped parsley, salt, and cayenne pepper.

  3. Let it boil for 5 minutes.

  4. Skim the broth, then add a little butter and sweet cream.

  5. Strain into cups and serve.

  6. Remove the parsley and celery, and keep the oysters in a cool place for further use.

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. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Provide the main flavour and the body of the broth as they cook in the liquid.
Celery
Adds a savoury, aromatic background flavour to the broth while it simmers.
Parsley
Contributes a fresh, herbal aroma that brightens the broth.
Sweet cream
Adds richness and a smoother, rounder mouthfeel to the finished broth.

The step that matters

Let it boil for 5 minutes. Boiling too long can toughen oysters and make them rubbery, so keep the time short and watch the pan closely.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, parsley, pepper, butter, cream. 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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