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Fricasseed Oysters

A savory oyster dish simmered with ham, broth, onions, herbs, and thickened with cornstarch, finished with eggs and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,979 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Fricasseed Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Soak the pickled ham in boiling water for 30 minutes.

  2. Cut the ham into small pieces and place in a saucepan with the broth, oyster liquor, minced onion, parsley, marjoram, and pepper.

  3. Simmer for 20 minutes, then boil rapidly for 2-3 minutes.

Thicken and add oysters

  1. Skim the mixture and add the cornstarch mixed with milk, stirring constantly until it boils.

  2. Add the oysters and butter to the pot.

  3. Let the mixture come to a boil.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove the oysters to a deep dish.

  2. Beat the egg. Gradually stir in some hot broth, then mix it into the pan.

  3. Season with salt and pour the mixture over the oysters.

  4. Squeeze lemon juice over the dish before serving.

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 + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Marjoram + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Pickled raw ham
Adds salty, savoury flavour to the broth as it simmers.
Cornstarch
Thickens the broth into a smooth, light sauce when brought to a boil.
Egg
Enriches and thickens the sauce when stirred in while hot.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the sauce.
Oysters
Provide the main seafood flavour and tender texture.
Milk
Adds creaminess and body to the thickened sauce.

The step that matters

Adding the egg. Egg thickens when heated gently but scrambles if it gets too hot. Stir in some hot broth first to temper it, then add it to the pan gradually so the sauce thickens smoothly without curdling.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, veal, oyster, parsley, marjoram, pepper, milk):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, veal, oyster, parsley, marjoram, pepper, milk. 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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