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Mock Oysters

A dish of boiled brains served cold or stewed, flavored with vinegar and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Mock Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the brains

  1. Remove the brains from the heads as whole as possible and remove the skin.

  2. Soak the brains in saltwater for 2 hours.

  3. Boil the brains in sweet milk until done.

Pickle and serve

  1. Place the cooked brains in a bowl and cover with weak vinegar.

  2. Prepare spiced vinegar by adding whole cloves, allspice, and cinnamon to vinegar, then scald it.

  3. Pour off the weak vinegar and cover the brains with the spiced vinegar.

  4. Serve cold or stewed with crackers.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Brains
Form the main body of the dish, with a soft, delicate texture once boiled.
Milk
Gently cooks the brains in a mild, rich liquid, keeping them tender.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that flavors the brains and helps preserve them in the pickle.

The step that matters

Boiling the brains in milk until done. Brains are very delicate and can turn grainy or fall apart if overcooked. Cooking them gently in milk until just set keeps them tender and intact for pickling.

“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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