Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Oystee Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
In a large pot, bring 1 quart of water to a boil.
Add 1 cup of butter and 1 pint of milk, stirring until combined.
Mix in 2 teaspoons of salt, 4 finely rolled crackers, and 1 teaspoon of pepper.
Quickly add 1 quart of oysters and bring the mixture back to a boil.
Serve
Remove from heat and serve immediately.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Milk + oystertop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,933 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together26,984 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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
- Adds richness and a smooth, fatty mouthfeel to the broth.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and softens the broth's flavor.
- Crackers
- Starch from the finely rolled crackers thickens the soup slightly.
The step that matters
Quickly add 1 quart of oysters and bring the mixture back to a boil.. Oysters overcook quickly, becoming rubbery and shrunken. Adding them at the end and heating only until the edges curl keeps them tender.
“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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