Why it works: Egg and oyster are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,103 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Oyster Feitteks
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Beat the eggs in a bowl.
Stir in the flour, sweet milk, and salt.
Remove the oysters from their liquor and wash them in cold water.
Strain the oyster liquor through a coarse towel.
Add the oysters to the egg and flour mixture.
Thin the batter with the reserved oyster liquor.
Fry
In a frying pan, heat the hot lard.
For large oysters, use a large spoon to drop one at a time into the hot lard.
For smaller oysters, drop two or three with the batter into the hot lard.
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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Egg + oystertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,103 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + oystertop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,933 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help the fritters hold together as they cook.
- All-purpose flour
- Thickens the batter and gives the fritters body and structure.
- Sweet milk
- Adds moisture and loosens the batter for a tender interior.
- Oysters
- The main ingredient, cooked within the batter until firm and golden.
The step that matters
Heating the lard before dropping in the oysters. Lard must be hot enough that the batter sets and browns quickly. If it is too cool, the batter soaks up fat and turns greasy and heavy instead of crisp.
“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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