Name: Steamed Oysters in the Shell
Ingredients: oysters; butter; coarse sea salt; black pepper

Why it works: Oyster and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,184 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Steamed Oysters in the Shell

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

oysters
butter
coarse sea salt
black pepper

Directions

Wash the oysters and place them in an air-tight vessel with the upper shell downward.
Place the vessel over a pot of boiling water to steam the oysters.
Boil rapidly until the shells open, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Serve immediately while hot, seasoned with butter, coarse sea salt, and black pepper.

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.

Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,184 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,663 recipes

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