Name: Fried Oysters
Ingredients: large select oysters; coarse sea salt; white pepper; crackers; lard; butter

Why it works: Oyster and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,184 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Fried Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Remove all shell pieces from the oysters and drain them in a colander.
Crush the crackers finely and season with white pepper and coarse sea salt.
Dip the oysters in the seasoned crushed crackers and place them on platters.
Heat a griddle and fry the oysters in a mixture of boiling lard and butter until golden brown.

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.

Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,184 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
White pepper + buttertop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,814 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Oyster + white peppertop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together451 recipes