Why it works: Marjoram and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,609 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Oyster Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Strain the liquor from the oysters and set it on the fire.
Add pepper, butter rolled in flour, sweet herbs, and chopped celery to the liquor.
When it boils, add the quart of rich milk and bring it to a boil again.
Remove the herbs and add the oysters just before serving.
Leave the celery in the soup.
Cut the toasted bread into small squares and add them to the soup before serving.
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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Marjoram + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Marjoram + celerytop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together615 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 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
- Oysters
- Provide the main flavor and tender texture of the soup.
- Butter
- Enriches the broth and, with the flour, thickens it slightly.
- Rich milk
- Adds body and creaminess to the broth.
- Celery
- Adds a mild, aromatic vegetable flavor to the broth.
The step that matters
Add the oysters just before serving. Oysters cook very quickly. Held at a boil too long, they toughen and shrink, so they should go in at the end.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, butter, flour, marjoram, milk, pepper, bread):
- Thymefits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, butter, flour, marjoram, milk, pepper, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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