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Scalloped Oysters

A baked oyster dish topped with cracker crumbs, butter, pepper, and sea salt, finished with an egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Scalloped Oysters

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Spread cracker crumbs on the bottom of a buttered baking dish.

Assemble

  1. Layer oysters on top, seasoning with pepper, coarse sea salt, and small pieces of butter.

  2. Repeat layers of crumbs and seasoned oysters until the dish is full, finishing with a layer of crumbs on top.

  3. Make an incision in the center and pour in the well-beaten egg.

  4. Use only butter, avoiding oyster liquor.

Bake

  1. Bake until browned nicely.

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. Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,103 recipes

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

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  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

Cracker crumbs
Form the absorbent layers that soak up liquid and hold the dish together.
Oysters
Provide the main ingredient and savory flavor that cooks through during baking.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the top crumbs brown in the oven.
Egg
Binds the mixture and sets when baked, giving a custardy texture.

The step that matters

Pour in the egg through an incision. The beaten egg must reach down into the layers so it sets evenly and binds the crumbs and oysters; pouring it on top would leave it pooled and unevenly cooked.

“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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