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Scalloped Oysters

Scalloped oysters baked with cracker crumbs, butter, oyster liquor, 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 ↓

Scalloped Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Drain the oysters in a colander and wash them carefully.

  2. Butter a deep pudding dish and cover the bottom with cracker crumbs.

Layer

  1. Season the crumbs with coarse sea salt, black pepper, and bits of butter.

  2. Layer the oysters on top, seasoning each layer.

  3. Continue layering with cracker crumbs and oysters until all are used.

  4. Top with more cracker crumbs and bits of butter.

Bake

  1. Pour over a few tablespoons of strained oyster liquor and 1 cup of cream.

  2. Cover and bake for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake for an additional 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. Oyster + buttertop 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. Pepper + buttertop 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

Oysters
Form the main filling and provide the briny, savory flavor of the dish.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb liquid and give the layers body so the dish holds together when baked.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, and thickens gently as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat and richness and helps the top brown as it bakes.

The step that matters

Cover, then uncover, for the bake. Baking covered first keeps the oysters and cream from drying out or overcooking, and uncovering later lets the top brown.

“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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