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 ↓
Dry Oyster Stew
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
Drain the liquor from the oysters into a pot.
Add boiling water to the liquor and bring to a boil.
Skim the surface, then add butter and the oysters.
Finish and serve
When the oysters curl, remove them from the pot.
Stir in cracker dust and pour the mixture over the oysters before serving.
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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Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, 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 flavour and tender texture of the stew.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the broth.
- Cracker dust
- Thickens the liquid slightly, giving the stew body.
The step that matters
Removing the oysters when they curl. Oysters turn firm and rubbery when overcooked, so they should be lifted out as soon as their edges curl.
“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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