Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Fried Oysters
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove gills from oysters and wipe them dry.
Coat and fry
Dip oysters in beaten egg, then coat with bread crumbs.
Heat lard in a pan and fry the oysters until golden brown.
Serve
Serve with lemon and parsley.
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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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Oyster + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,545 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, 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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Bread + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,588 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Oysters
- Are the main ingredient, cooked briefly so the flesh stays tender inside a crisp coating.
- Egg
- Acts as a binder so the bread crumbs stick to the oysters.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden coating that browns in the hot fat.
- Lard
- Conducts heat for frying and encourages browning of the crumb coating.
The step that matters
Wipe the oysters dry before coating. Surface moisture keeps the egg and bread crumbs from adhering evenly and turns to steam in the hot fat, which can make the coating slide off or fry unevenly.
“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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