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Steamed Oysters

Steamed oysters served on buttered toast, seasoned with butter, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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

Ingredients

Directions

Steam the oysters

  1. Place the oysters in a granite basin and set it in a steamer.

  2. Steam the oysters until the edges curl.

Season and serve

  1. Season with butter, salt, and pepper.

  2. Pour the oysters over buttered toast.

  3. Optionally, pour melted cheese over the oysters or toast before serving.

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. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

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

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

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

  3. 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
Provide the main ingredient, whose delicate flesh turns tender and briny when gently steamed.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the oysters a smooth, silky mouthfeel and carrying flavor.

The step that matters

Steam until the edges just curl. Oyster muscle proteins tighten and toughen quickly with heat. Removing them as soon as the edges curl keeps the flesh tender and prevents a rubbery texture.

“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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