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Oysters, Pickled

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Oysters, Pickled

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Wash the oysters carefully in their liquor and strain the liquor through a cloth.

  2. Place the oysters in a skillet with all the liquor and simmer for about 25 minutes.

  3. Remove the oysters and lay each one separately in a dish.

  4. Pour off the liquor and let the oysters cool.

  5. In a jar, layer the oysters with bruised allspice, black pepper, and cloves.

  6. Make the liquor very salty and add an equal amount of vinegar.

  7. Pour the liquor and vinegar mixture over the oysters in the jar, layering as you go.

  8. Cover the jar closely.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Allspice + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  5. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, allspice, pepper, vinegar):

  1. Clovethe original
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Marjoramfits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, allspice, pepper, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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