Name: Oyster Pie
Ingredients: 1 cup oyster liquor; 2 tablespoons butter; ¼ teaspoon pepper; ½ cup breadcrumbs; 1 cup milk; 3 large eggs, beaten; 1 pie crust, buttered

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Oyster Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Strain the liquor from the oysters and boil it with butter and pepper.
Mix breadcrumbs and milk in a bowl, then add to the boiling liquor.
After boiling for a few minutes, add the oysters and heat through.
Remove from heat and stir in the beaten eggs.
Line a buttered dish with the pie crust and fill with white paper to support a lid.
Bake until nicely browned, then remove the lid and pour in the oyster mixture.
Return to the oven for a few minutes and serve hot.

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,184 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,103 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

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