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Scalloped Oysters

Scalloped oysters are baked oysters topped with crumbed butter, cream, and oyster liquor.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Scalloped Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Wash the oysters and remove them from the liquor.

  2. Mix the crumbs with the melted butter.

Assemble

  1. Scatter a layer of crumbs over a deep saucer.

  2. Add a layer of oysters, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cover with the remaining crumbs.

  3. Pour over the cream and oyster liquor.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake at 400°F (200°C) until the top is delicately browned.

  2. Serve hot.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Oyster + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,545 recipes

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

  5. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 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 flavor and the tender, briny filling of the dish.
Cracker and bread crumbs
Form a crisp, browned crust and absorb moisture from the filling.
Butter
Coats the crumbs so they brown evenly and add richness.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, helping the filling stay tender as it bakes.
Oyster liquor
Adds concentrated oyster flavor and moisture to the dish.

The step that matters

Bake until delicately browned. Oysters overcook quickly and turn rubbery, so the dish should bake only until the top is golden. The crumbs brown through dry heat, while the filling stays moist beneath them.

“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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