Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Curried Oysters
Ingredients
Directions
In a saucepan, melt the butter and fry the sliced onion until golden, then strain out the onion.
Add the flour and curry powder to the roux and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
Gradually add the heated oyster liquor, stirring until you achieve a smooth, thin paste with an 'old-gold' color.
Pour the curry sauce over broiled oysters arranged in a hot-water dish.
Serve with boiled rice.
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.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Onion + flourtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together32,460 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Onion + oystertop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,920 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, oyster):
- Shallotfits better
- Cucumberfits better
- Chivefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, oyster. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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