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Broiled Oysters in the Shell

Broiled oysters in their shells, seasoned with coarse sea salt and lemon juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Oyster and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,942 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Broiled Oysters in the Shell

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Scrub the oyster shells thoroughly.

Cook

  1. Place the oysters on a broiler over hot coals, with the round side facing the fire.

  2. Cook until the shells open.

  3. Remove the upper shell.

Season and serve

  1. Season the oysters with coarse sea salt and lemon juice.

  2. Serve on the shells.

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 + lemontop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,942 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

Oysters
Are the main food; their shells steam open and the meat cooks in its own liquor.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich, briny flavour of the cooked oysters.

The step that matters

Cook until the shells open. Heat must reach the oyster through the shell; stopping too early leaves the meat underdone and unsafe, while overcooking toughens it and dries out the liquor.

“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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