Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and 124,287 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Oysters, Soup Of, Economical
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the base
Cut the ox-heel into small pieces, about the size of a small oyster.
In a stewpan, combine the ox-heel pieces, stock, flour, and butter.
Add cayenne pepper and sherry.
Simmer and serve
Boil gently for 2 hours.
Add the oysters and their liquid.
Simmer for 5 minutes.
Serve hot.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Pepper + sherrytop 18% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,107 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Ox-heel
- Breaks down during long simmering to add body and a rich, gelatinous mouthfeel to the soup.
- Stock
- Forms the main liquid, supplying most of the soup's moisture and savoury base.
- Flour
- Its starch thickens the stock as it heats, giving the soup a smoother body.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, rounded texture to the soup.
- Oysters
- Provide the main flavour, with a briny taste and tender texture when cooked briefly.
- Sherry
- Adds acidity and aromatic depth that brightens the rich broth.
The step that matters
Simmer for 5 minutes after adding the oysters. Oysters toughen and shrink when overcooked. Adding them at the end and simmering only briefly keeps them tender and juicy.
“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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