Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Oyster Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Bring 1 quart of water and a slice of bacon to a boil in a pot.
Add 1 quart of oysters, 1 tablespoon of black pepper, 4 ounces of butter, 3 tablespoons of flour, 1 tablespoon of sweet cream, and salt to taste.
Boil for 10 minutes.
Stir in 2 beaten egg yolks and continue boiling for 15 minutes.
Remove the bacon and serve the soup.
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.
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,103 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Oysters
- Provide the main flavor and body of the soup.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the broth and add richness as they cook.
- Flour
- Thickens the liquid so the soup becomes creamy rather than watery.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a rich mouthfeel and smooth flavor.
The step that matters
Stirring in the egg yolks. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if they meet very hot liquid without being mixed in well. Stirring steadily while they are added helps them blend smoothly and thicken the soup 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.
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