Why it works: Oyster and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,184 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓
Roast Quail
Ingredients
Directions
Clean the quail and wash them in soda and water.
Rinse with clear water and wipe dry.
Place two oysters inside each quail and sew them up.
Arrange the quails side by side in a baking pan.
Pour a little boiling water over them, cover, and roast for 30 minutes, basting often with butter.
Serve on pieces of fried toast on a hot dish.
Make a gravy and pour a spoonful over each quail.
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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Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Quail + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together512 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Quail + oystertop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together52 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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