Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Beefsteak, with Oyster Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cook the steak to your preference.
Make the oyster sauce
In a saucepan, combine the oyster liquid, butter, and flour.
Heat the mixture until it comes to a boil.
Add the oysters and let it boil for a moment.
Serve
Pour the sauce over the steak and serve hot.
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.
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
-
Oyster + flourtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,582 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (grass, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Oysters
- Provide the main flavour and texture of the sauce as they cook briefly in it.
- Oyster liquid
- Supplies the briny, savoury liquid that forms the base of the sauce.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and oyster liquid into a cohesive sauce as it heats.
The step that matters
Bringing the sauce to a boil after adding the oysters. Oysters overcook quickly and turn rubbery when boiled too long. Letting them boil only a moment keeps them tender while the flour-thickened sauce sets properly.
“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.
More steak with oyster sauce recipes
You might also like
Mock Oyster Soup21 recipes
Corn Fritters6 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.