Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Oyster Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Boil 1 quart of water.
Add 1 quart of rich milk and stir in 1 teacup of rolled cracker crumbs.
Season with pepper and coarse sea salt to taste.
When boiling, add 1 quart of fresh oysters and stir well to prevent scorching.
Add butter the size of an egg and let it come to a boil.
Serve
Dish up and serve.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,103 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 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
- Rich milk
- Provides the creamy body and mild sweetness of the soup.
- Rolled cracker crumbs
- Thicken the liquid as they absorb moisture and soften.
- Fresh oysters
- Supply the main flavor and tender texture of the soup.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Stirring in the oysters once boiling. Milk-based liquids can scorch on the bottom of the pot when heated, and constant stirring keeps milk solids from sticking and burning. Oysters are also cooked quickly; the soup should only come to a boil so they stay tender and do not toughen.
“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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