Name: Oysters
Ingredients: large oysters; lemon slices; olive oil (or peanut oil or cotton seed oil)

Why it works: Lemon and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,922 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Oysters

Ingredients

large oysters
lemon slices
olive oil (or peanut oil or cotton seed oil)

Directions

Prepare a large block of ice on a platter, creating a center hollowed out for the oysters.
Fill the hollow with raw oysters.
Garnish the edge with lemon slices and decorate the sides with green sprigs if desired.
If using butter, substitute with half the amount of olive oil, or use peanut or cotton seed oil.

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.

Lemon + olivetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,922 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Oyster + olivetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together709 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Oyster + lemontop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,942 recipes

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