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Oysters, Fricasseed

A savory oyster dish simmered in a butter, ham, and stock sauce with herbs and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Oysters, Fricasseed

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. In a stewpan, combine diced ham, butter, parsley, thyme, sliced onion, lemon rind, and cloves.

  2. Cover and steam gently for 10 minutes.

  3. Pour in the stock or gravy and simmer for 20 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Add oysters and heat until hot, then remove from heat for 1-2 minutes.

  2. Gradually stir in beaten egg yolk mixed with cream.

  3. Simmer for 1 minute and serve oysters on a hot dish with strained sauce poured over them.

  4. Add lemon juice if desired.

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.

  1. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Thyme + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Parsley + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Provide the main flavour and are gently heated so they stay tender.
Egg yolk
Thickens the sauce and gives it a rich, smooth texture when stirred in gently.
Butter
Adds richness and carries the flavour of the aromatics into the sauce.
Stock or gravy
Forms the base of the sauce, thickened with flour for body.
Cream
Adds richness and softens the sauce when combined with the egg yolk.

The step that matters

Stirring in the egg yolk and cream. Egg yolk thickens when heated, but if the sauce boils after it goes in, the yolk can scramble and turn grainy. Adding it gradually and only simmering briefly keeps the sauce smooth.

“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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