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Esoaloped Oysters with Noodles

A baked casserole of noodles and oysters, layered with butter, salt, pepper, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Esoaloped Oysters with Noodles

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the noodles

  1. Boil the noodles in salted water until tender.

  2. Drain the noodles.

  3. Rinse the noodles with cold water while stirring.

  4. Lay the noodles on a platter until ready to use.

Assemble

  1. Butter a baking dish.

  2. Layer half of the noodles in the bottom of the dish.

  3. Add a layer of oysters.

  4. Sprinkle the oysters with salt and pepper.

  5. Add small flakes of butter on the oysters.

  6. Add another layer of noodles.

  7. Add a layer of oysters.

  8. Finish with a final layer of noodles.

  9. Pour the oyster liquor over the top.

  10. Pour ½ cup of cream over the top.

Bake

  1. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 30 minutes.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  3. Oyster + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,886 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,663 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Noodles
Form the starchy body of the pudding, holding the layers together as they bake.
Oysters
Provide the main flavour and tender, briny texture in each layer.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and helps keep the layers from drying out.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, softening the noodles and setting into a custard-like sauce.

The step that matters

Rinse the noodles with cold water while stirring. Cold rinsing stops the cooked noodles from continuing to soften and clumping together, so they stay separate and hold their shape in the layers.

“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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