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Fowl Stuffed with Oysters

A fowl stuffed with oysters, boiled, and served with a sauce made from its gravy, egg yolks, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Oyster and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,103 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Fowl Stuffed with Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Truss the fowl as for boiling and clean the inside well.

  2. Remove the gills from the oysters and wash them in their own liquor.

  3. Stuff the oysters into the fowl and tie up the ends.

Cook

  1. Place the fowl in a pot or earthenware jar and submerge it in boiling water.

  2. Boil for nearly 2 hours.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. Take the gravy from the fowl and gradually stir in the beaten egg yolks and milk.

  2. Heat the sauce in a saucepan until hot but not boiling.

  3. Pour the sauce over the fowl when serving, adding a few oysters to the sauce if desired.

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 + eggtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,103 recipes

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

  2. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  3. Oyster + milktop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,933 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Fowl
Forms the main body of the dish and is cooked whole in boiling water.
Oysters
Stuffed inside the fowl, they add a briny, savoury flavour to the meat and sauce.
Egg yolks
Thicken the gravy as they gently heat, giving the sauce a smooth, rich body.
Milk
Dilutes and softens the gravy, adding creaminess and a mild sweetness to the sauce.

The step that matters

Stirring the egg yolks and milk into the gravy. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat but scramble and curdle if they get too hot or are added too quickly. Stir gradually and keep the sauce below boiling.

“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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