Name: Oyster Plant
Ingredients: Oyster plant; water; milk; olive oil; coarse sea salt

Why it works: Milk and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,828 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Oyster Plant

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Scrape the oyster plant and cut it crosswise into thin slices.

Cook and serve

Place the slices in enough water to cover them and stew until tender.
Add a little milk, olive oil, and coarse sea salt to taste.
Serve with toast if desired.

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.

Milk + olivetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,828 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Oyster + olivetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together709 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Oyster + milktop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,933 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Oyster plant: Forms the body of the stew, softening into tender pieces as it stews.
Milk: Adds creaminess and a mild sweetness to the stewing liquid.
Olive oil: Adds fat, giving the stew a smoother mouthfeel and richer flavor.

“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.