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Oyster Fritters

A batter of eggs, bread crumbs, flour, milk, pepper, and sea salt is fried with oysters.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Oyster Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Beat the eggs in a bowl and mix in enough bread crumbs and flour to create a stiff batter.

  2. Add milk gradually until the desired consistency is reached.

  3. Season the batter with pepper and coarse sea salt.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat equal portions of butter and lard in a frying pan.

  2. Drop a spoonful of batter into the pan and add one or two oysters on top.

  3. Cook until golden brown, then turn carefully to cook the other side.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, 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

Eggs
Bind the batter and help it set firmly when cooked.
Bread crumbs
Add body to the batter and give the fritters a crisp, golden exterior.
Flour
Thickens the batter so it holds its shape around the oysters.
Milk
Loosens the stiff batter to the desired consistency.
Oysters
Provide the main flavour and tender, briny centre of each fritter.

The step that matters

Turning the fritters. The batter is set only on the surface until the first side browns, so turning too early can tear it apart. Turn carefully once the underside is golden so the fritter holds together and the oyster stays inside.

“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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