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Stewed Oysters

A simple stew of oysters simmered in oyster liquor, water, salt, pepper, and served with cream or milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Oyster and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,886 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Stewed Oysters

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a stewpan, combine the oyster liquor and water, and bring to a boil.

  2. Prepare the oysters in a bowl, using about 10 oysters per person.

  3. Once the liquid boils, add the oysters and boil for 30 seconds.

  4. Remove from heat and serve the oysters with 1½ tablespoons of cream or milk for each person.

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. Oyster + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,886 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,663 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + creamtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Pepper and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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
Are the main ingredient, cooked briefly so they stay tender and plump.
Oyster liquor
Supplies the briny, savory flavor of the cooking liquid.
Cream or milk
Adds richness and a mild sweetness that softens the briny taste.

The step that matters

Boiling the oysters for 30 seconds. Oysters toughen and shrink quickly when overcooked. A short boil in just-boiling liquid firms the edges while keeping the centers tender and juicy.

“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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