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Peppers Stuffed with Oysters

Peppers stuffed with oysters, baked with a cream sauce and cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Peppers Stuffed with Oysters

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the peppers

  1. Cut the tops off the peppers and clean out the insides.

  2. Soak the peppers in cold salt water.

  3. Drain the peppers.

  4. Rinse the peppers in fresh cold water.

Make the cream sauce

  1. In a saucepan, bring the milk to a boil.

  2. Thicken the milk with flour mixed in a little water until smooth, resembling the consistency of cream.

  3. Add the butter, salt, and a pinch of pepper to the cream sauce.

Fill and bake

  1. Place the peppers in a buttered baking dish.

  2. Layer the filling: start with a little cracker crumbs, then oysters, followed by cream sauce. Repeat until the peppers are full.

  3. Replace the tops of the peppers.

  4. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 20 to 30 minutes.

  5. Serve as an entree or vegetable.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

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

  4. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Provide the main filling and a briny, savory flavor through the stuffing.
Milk
Forms the base of the cream sauce that moistens the filling.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth cream sauce that binds the filling.
Cracker crumbs
Add body and absorb moisture within the layered filling.
Butter
Adds richness and fat to the cream sauce and buttered dish.

The step that matters

Thickening the cream sauce. Flour must be fully blended into a little water before it goes into the hot milk, otherwise it clumps. Smooth, evenly thickened sauce coats the oysters and keeps the filling moist during baking.

“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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