Name: Scalloped Oysters
Ingredients: 1 pint oysters, drained; ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt; ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper; 2 cups stale bread crumbs; ¼ teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon black pepper; 1 hard boiled egg, finely chopped; 2 tablespoons butter, plus more for topping

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Scalloped Oysters

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

1 pint oysters, drained
½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cups stale bread crumbs
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 hard boiled egg, finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter, plus more for topping

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Season the drained oysters with salt and cayenne pepper.
In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs with salt and black pepper. For each ½ cup of bread crumbs, mix in the chopped hard boiled egg.

Layer and bake

Butter a deep baking dish and layer in half of the bread crumb mixture.
Add a layer of oysters and dot with butter.
Top with the remaining bread crumbs and finish with a layer of crumbs on top.
Bake until golden brown and 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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,184 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Oyster + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,545 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,103 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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 flavour and tender, briny filling between the crumb layers.
Bread crumbs: Form the body of the dish and soak up butter and oyster liquor as it bakes.
Butter: Adds richness and helps the top crumbs brown in the oven.
Hard boiled egg: Adds richness and body to the crumb mixture, binding it lightly.

The step that matters

Layering the crumbs and oysters. Keeping the crumb layers even and covering the oysters fully protects them from drying out, while the butter helps the top brown evenly in the hot oven.

“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.

Brown Bread461 recipes

White Bread80 recipes

Bread Omelette60 recipes

Oatmeal Bread51 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The 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.

Scalloped Oysters