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A creamy oyster soup made with oyster liquor, milk, stock, butter, flour, cayenne pepper, anchovy sauce, and optional cream or egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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 ↓

Soups, Broths, Purees

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Boil the oyster liquor and beards in the milk.

  2. Boil the stock in a separate pot.

  3. Melt the butter in a stew pan, stir in the flour, and gradually add some stock.

  4. Pour the mixture into the boiling stock, stirring until it thickens, then cook for 10 minutes.

  5. Strain the milk into the stock and stir in the cayenne pepper and anchovy sauce.

  6. If using cream, boil it separately and add it to the stock.

Finish with eggs and oysters

  1. If using egg yolks, beat them with a little stock, then remove the saucepan from heat.

  2. Carefully strain the egg yolks into the soup without boiling it, then add the cut-up oysters and lemon juice.

  3. Stir until the eggs are cooked.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

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

  5. Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Thickens the stock into a smooth, body-rich soup as it cooks.
Butter
Carries the flour and adds richness and a rounded flavor to the base.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mild sweetness to the soup.
Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the soup as they cook gently in the hot liquid.
Cream
Adds richness and a silkier mouthfeel to the finished bisque.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolks. If the soup boils after the yolks go in, they can scramble and curdle, leaving a grainy texture. Removing the pan from heat and adding the yolks slowly keeps the soup smooth.

“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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