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Imitation Oyster Scallops

A savory dish of veal and butter baked in scallop shells with pickled cucumber, spices, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Imitation Oyster Scallops

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the filling

  1. Combine drawn butter, veal, minced onion, and parsley in a saucepan.

  2. Heat over low heat for 10 minutes, ensuring it does not boil.

  3. Stir in the chopped pickled cucumber and season with salt and cayenne.

Fill and bake

  1. Fill scallop or clam shells with the mixture.

  2. Top with fine bread crumbs and brown in a 400°F (200°C) oven.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Parsley + cucumbertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,564 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Onion + cucumbertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold roast veal
Provides the meaty body of the filling, which holds its texture after gentle heating.
Drawn butter
Carries the flavor and keeps the filling moist and rich as it warms.
Pickled cucumber
Adds acidity that cuts through the richness of the butter and veal.
Fine bread crumbs
Form a crisp, browned topping in the hot oven.

The step that matters

Heat over low heat without boiling. Gentle heat warms the butter and veal through without making the butter separate or the meat toughen, which keeps the filling smooth and moist.

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, butter, onion, parsley, pepper, bread):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, butter, onion, parsley, pepper, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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