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Oyster Plant

A stew made from oyster plant, water, milk, olive oil, and coarse sea salt, served with toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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

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

Stew and season

  1. Place the slices in enough water to cover them and stew until quite tender.

  2. Add a little milk, olive oil, and coarse sea salt to taste.

Serve

  1. 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.

  1. Milk + olivetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,828 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  2. Oyster + olivetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together709 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. 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 main body of the stew and becomes tender when slowly simmered.
Milk
Adds creaminess and a mild sweetness to the stew liquid.
Olive oil
Adds fat, giving the stew a richer mouthfeel and smoother finish.

The step that matters

Stewing until quite tender. Oyster plant must be cooked long enough for its fibres to soften fully. Undercooked slices stay firm and fibrous, so the cook should test a slice before seasoning.

“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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