Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Feioasseed Oysters
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Drain the oysters as dry as possible.
In a skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of butter until browned.
Add the oysters and cook until they start to cook through.
Finish and serve
Mix the remaining butter with the flour and add to the skillet.
Cook for a moment, then add the beaten egg mixed with cream.
Cook briefly and pour the mixture over toasted bread.
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 + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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 + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,545 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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
- Are the main ingredient, cooked until they just start to firm through.
- Butter
- Browns in the pan and adds richness and nutty flavor to the dish.
- All-purpose flour
- Mixed with butter to thicken the sauce as it cooks.
- Egg
- Thickens the cream mixture into a soft, custard-like sauce when gently cooked.
The step that matters
Cook the egg and cream briefly. Egg proteins set with heat and can curdle or turn grainy if overcooked, so the mixture should be cooked only briefly and kept moving.
“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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