Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Oyster Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Boil the ground oysters for a few minutes.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour with the butter until smooth.
Add the flour mixture to the oysters.
Stir in milk or cream until the soup is thick enough.
Finish and serve
Just before serving, add the chopped hard boiled eggs.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,103 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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 body of the soup.
- Flour
- Thickens the soup as it is mixed with butter and cooked into the liquid.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the flour blend smoothly without lumps.
- Milk or cream
- Adds moisture and creaminess, and helps set the soup to the desired thickness.
- Hard boiled eggs
- Add texture and body through chopped pieces stirred in at the end.
The step that matters
Stir in milk or cream until the soup is thick enough. Flour thickens only as it heats in liquid, so the soup should be thick enough before adding more liquid or it will be watery. Adding milk or cream gradually and checking consistency helps avoid a thin or lumpy result.
“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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