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 ↓
Oyster Patties
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the pastry
Roll out the puff pastry to ¼ inch thick and cut into squares to cover 10 patty pans.
Place a piece of bread on each pastry square.
Roll out another layer of pastry to the same thickness.
Cut the pastry into squares.
Wet the edges of the bottom pastry.
Place the top pastry on.
Trim the edges for evenness.
Notch the edges with the back of a knife.
Brush the tops lightly with the egg yolk.
Bake in a hot oven (400°F / 200°C) for about 15 minutes.
Make the oyster filling
Parboil the oysters in their own liquor, reducing it by half.
Cut the oysters in half.
In a pan, combine the oysters with butter rolled in flour, cream, and salt, stirring over heat for 5 minutes.
Assemble and serve
Fill the baked patties with the oyster mixture.
Place the cover on.
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.
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Walnut + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,873 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, 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
- Puff pastry
- Forms the flaky, layered case that holds the filling and puffs when baked.
- Oysters
- Provide the main savoury flavour and tender texture of the filling.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavour, and with flour forms a roux that thickens the filling.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and cream so the oyster filling sets rather than running.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, giving the filling a smooth, velvety body.
- Egg yolk
- Brushed on top, it promotes golden browning of the pastry during baking.
The step that matters
Parboil the oysters in their own liquor, reducing it by half. Overcooking oysters makes them tough and shrinks them, while reducing the liquor concentrates its briny flavour. Brief cooking firms the oysters, and the reduced liquor adds flavour to the cream filling without making it watery.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, oyster, butter, flour, cream, egg):
- Almondfits better
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Walnutthe original
- Pecansfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, oyster, butter, flour, cream, egg. 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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