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Shredded Wheat Oyster Patties

A savory patty made from oysters, milk, and shredded wheat biscuits, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and wheat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Shredded Wheat Oyster Patties

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.

Make the oyster filling

  1. Cook the oysters in boiling water until plump.

  2. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.

  3. Stir in the flour, salt, paprika, and white pepper until smooth.

  4. Gradually add the milk and oyster liquor, stirring constantly. Cook until the sauce thickens, then add the cooked oysters.

Prepare and serve the patties

  1. Create a cavity in the top of each biscuit with a teaspoon. Remove the shreds from the cavity.

  2. Heat the empty biscuits in the oven at 350°F (175°C).

  3. Fill the heated biscuits with the oyster mixture and serve immediately.

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 + wheattop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Wheat + biscuittop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together116 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  4. Flour + biscuittop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together889 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Provide the main flavor and tender, briny filling of the patties.
Butter
Adds richness and carries the flavor of the roux.
Flour
Thickens the milk and oyster liquor into a smooth, creamy sauce.
Milk
Forms the creamy base of the sauce, adding body and mild sweetness.
Oyster liquor
Adds concentrated oyster flavor and salinity to the sauce.
Shredded wheat biscuits
Form the crisp, hollow case that holds the filling.

The step that matters

Thickening the sauce. Flour must be cooked into the butter and liquid until the sauce thickens fully; under-cooked flour leaves a raw, pasty taste and a thin sauce that runs out of the biscuits.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, butter, flour, milk, wheat, biscuit):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, butter, flour, milk, wheat, biscuit. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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