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Deviled Oysters

A fried oyster coated in a seasoned cracker and egg mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Deviled Oysters

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 ↓

Deviled Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the oysters

  1. Drain the oysters on a cloth.

  2. In a bowl, mix oil or melted butter, vinegar, and pepper sauce or cayenne pepper.

  3. Dip the oysters in the mixture and let them soak for 5 minutes.

Coat and fry

  1. Coat the oysters in rolled crackers, then dip in the beaten egg, and coat with crackers again.

  2. Fry the oysters in hot lard or a mixture of lard and butter until golden brown.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

  2. Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,103 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  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
Main ingredient; they cook quickly and turn tender inside a crisp coating.
Rolled crackers
Form the crisp, golden crust that browns during frying.
Beaten egg
Acts as a binder so the cracker coating sticks to the oysters.
Oil or melted butter
Adds fat and richness to the seasoned soak and helps the coating brown.

The step that matters

Frying the coated oysters. Fry in hot fat so the cracker coating browns quickly and crisps before the oysters overcook. Oysters are delicate and become rubbery with prolonged heat, so timing matters.

“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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