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Oysters Au Gratin

Oysters au Gratin is baked oysters topped with a butter, breadcrumb, and Parmesan mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and parmesan cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,163 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Oysters Au Gratin

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Shuck the oysters and place them in a baking dish.

Make the topping

  1. Melt butter and mix with breadcrumbs, grated Parmesan, salt, and pepper.

  2. Spread the breadcrumb mixture over the oysters.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

  2. Serve hot.

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. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  3. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  4. Oyster + parmesan cheesetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together111 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Provide the main ingredient, cooking gently in the oven while their juices mingle with the topping.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the breadcrumbs brown evenly in the oven.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust over the oysters when baked.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory flavor and helps the topping brown through its milk solids.

The step that matters

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Baking too briefly leaves the oysters underdone and the topping pale, while overbaking dries the oysters and makes them tough. Watching for color is the best guide.

“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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