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Oysters Au Gratin

Oysters au gratin is a baked oyster dish with a creamy sauce topped with Parmesan cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 ↓

Oysters Au Gratin

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the oysters

  1. Scald the oysters in ½ cup of water and drain.

  2. Cut the oysters into quarters.

Make the sauce

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.

  2. Add the flour and stir until combined.

  3. Pour in the milk and oyster water, stirring gently.

  4. Season with coarse sea salt and cayenne pepper.

  5. Stir the oysters into the sauce gently.

  6. Allow the mixture to boil for 3 minutes.

Bake and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture to a deep dish.

  2. Sprinkle generously with grated Parmesan cheese.

  3. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 12 minutes.

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 + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + parmesan cheesetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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 seafood flavor and tender texture in the finished dish.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavor when melted into the sauce base.
Flour
Thickens the milk and oyster liquid into a smooth, cohesive sauce.
Milk
Forms the creamy body of the sauce along with the oyster liquid.
Parmesan cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding savory flavor and a golden crust.

The step that matters

Stirring the flour into the butter and adding the liquid gently. Flour must cook briefly in melted butter so it thickens smoothly without lumps or a raw taste. Adding milk gradually while stirring keeps the sauce smooth. Letting the oysters simmer too hard can toughen them, so they are stirred in gently.

“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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