Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Creamed Oysters
Ingredients
Directions
Melt the butter in a chafing dish.
Add the flour and blend well until smooth.
Gradually add the cream while stirring constantly until the sauce is smooth.
Add the cleaned and drained oysters.
Bring to a boil, season, and serve.
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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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Flour + celerytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,905 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Oyster + creamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,886 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Cream + celerytop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,863 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, flour, cream, pepper):
- Nutmegfits better
- Turmericfits about as well
- Celerythe original
- Parsleyfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, flour, cream, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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