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New Orleans Oyster Loaf

A sandwich of fried oysters between toasted, buttered bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

New Orleans Oyster Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat the kettle full of boiling fat.

  2. Toast the inner sides of the split loaf.

  3. Butter the toasted sides generously.

  4. Keep the toasted and buttered loaf warm.

Fry the oysters

  1. Drain the oysters and season with salt and pepper.

  2. Dip the oysters into the beaten eggs.

  3. Coat the oysters with cornmeal.

  4. Place the oysters in a wire frying basket.

  5. Immerse the basket in boiling fat.

  6. Fry the oysters until golden brown.

  7. Remove the oysters from the fat.

Assemble and serve

  1. Place the fried oysters between the halves of the toasted and buttered bread.

  2. Serve immediately with pickles, ketchup, and horseradish.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

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

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters (in the method)
Tender, juicy centre that contrasts with the crisp fried coating.
Eggs
Act as a binder so the cornmeal coating sticks evenly to the oysters.
Cornmeal
Forms a crisp, golden crust when fried in hot fat.
Bread
Provides the sturdy structure that holds the fried oysters and toppings.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour and moistens the toasted bread.

The step that matters

Frying the coated oysters in hot fat. The fat must be fully hot before the basket goes in. Hot fat sets the cornmeal crust quickly, so it turns crisp and golden rather than soaking up oil, and the oysters cook through without drying out.

“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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