Name: Oyster Stew
Ingredients: 1 quart oysters; 2 cups cold water; 2 quarts milk; Salt to taste; Pepper to taste; ¼ pound butter; Crackers (optional, for thickening)

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Oyster Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the oysters

In a pot, combine the oysters and cold water.
Bring to a boil and skim off any foam.

Finish the stew

Add the milk, salt, pepper, and butter. Stir until the butter is melted.
If desired, add rolled and crushed crackers to thicken the stew.

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,184 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Oyster + milktop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,933 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together26,984 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).