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Rump Steak, Stewed, with Oysters

A stew of rump steak simmered with oysters, spices, and a thickened gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Rump Steak, Stewed, with Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and brown

  1. Rub the steak on both sides with minced onions, salt, and summer savory.

  2. Fry the steak in hot fat until lightly browned.

Stew the steak

  1. Place the steak in a saucepan with water, clove, allspice, mace, and oyster liquor.

  2. Cover and simmer gently until the steak is tender (1.5 to 2 hours).

Thicken and serve

  1. Remove the steak, strain the gravy, and thicken it with brown thickening or a flour and butter mixture.

  2. Boil the gravy until smooth, then return the steak and add the oysters (remove gills from oysters).

  3. Simmer for 5 minutes without boiling, then serve.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Summer savory + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together52 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Summer savory + clovetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together143 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Summer savory + flourtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together263 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Rump steak
Long gentle simmering breaks down connective tissue, making the tough cut tender.
Hot fat
Browning the steak in hot fat builds roasted, savory flavour on the surface.
Brown thickening
Starch swells when heated in the gravy, giving it body and a smooth, thick texture.
Oysters
They add a briny, savory flavour and a soft, delicate texture to the gravy.
Oyster liquor
Its concentrated salty, mineral flavour seasons the water used for stewing the steak.

The step that matters

Simmer the oysters without boiling. Boiling makes oysters contract and turn rubbery, while gentle heat keeps them plump and tender. Simmering just long enough warms them through without overcooking.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (summer savory, clove, allspice, oyster, flour):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Cinnamonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against summer savory, clove, allspice, oyster, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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