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Soup

Oyster Soup

A creamy soup made with oysters, white stock, butter, flour, milk, egg yolks, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Oyster Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the oysters

  1. Remove the gills from the oysters and plump them by pouring boiling water over them.

  2. Cut each oyster into three pieces.

Make the soup

  1. In a pot, melt the butter and stir in the flour to make a roux.

  2. Gradually add the white stock, stirring constantly until thickened.

  3. Add the oysters, cayenne pepper, anchovy sauce, salt, lemon juice, and boiled milk.

  4. Cook gently for a few minutes, then stir in the egg yolks and cream if using.

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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Oyster + anchovytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together603 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Flour
Forms a roux with the butter that thickens the stock into a smooth soup.
Butter
Carries the flour into a roux and adds richness to the soup.
Oysters
Provide the main flavour and texture of the soup.
Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the soup when stirred in at the end.
Boiled milk
Adds creaminess and mellows the saltiness of the stock.

The step that matters

Stirring the stock into the roux. Adding the stock gradually while stirring constantly keeps the flour smooth and prevents lumps, so the soup thickens evenly.

“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.

More oyster soup recipes

Mock 19White 16Vegetable 8Chicken 3Cream 3 See all 520 →

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