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Fried Oysters

Fried oysters are oysters coated in flour or cracker, fried in lard or oil, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,502 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Fried Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove oysters from their liquor and dry them.

  2. Dip each oyster in flour or rolled cracker until coated.

Fry

  1. Heat lard or olive oil in a pan over moderate heat.

  2. Fry the oysters one by one until golden brown.

  3. Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper before serving hot.

Variation

  1. For a variation, dip oysters in a batter made of 1 egg and 2 tablespoons milk, then roll in equal parts corn meal and flour.

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. Olive + corntop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,502 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  3. Pepper + corntop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Flour + corntop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,165 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

Oysters
Main ingredient that becomes tender and juicy inside a crisp golden coating when fried.
Flour or rolled cracker
Forms a dry coating that helps the oysters brown and crisp in the hot fat.
Lard or olive oil
Frying fat that conducts heat and browns the coating evenly.
Egg
Binds the milk and coating so the variation's crust adheres to the oysters.

The step that matters

Fry the oysters one by one until golden brown. Frying in a pan of hot fat sets the coating quickly; if the fat is not hot enough or the pan is crowded, the oysters absorb more oil, steam instead of crisping, and can overcook before the coating browns.

“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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