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 Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Assemble
Line a deep dish with pie crust.
Add a layer of cracker or bread crumbs to the bottom.
Place the oysters on top, adding pieces of butter, salt, and pepper.
Pour in half of the oyster liquor.
Add another layer of cracker or bread crumbs, seasoning as before.
Pour in the remaining oyster liquor and cover with pie crust.
Cut a hole in the top of the crust.
Bake and serve
Bake at 300°F (150°C) for one hour.
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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Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Bread + oystertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,545 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Oysters
- Provide the main filling, releasing savory juices and flavor as they cook.
- Cracker or bread crumbs
- Layered between the oysters, they soak up liquor and help give the filling body.
- Oyster liquor
- Adds moisture and concentrated oyster flavor, keeping the filling from drying out in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, carrying flavor and helping the filling taste rounded.
The step that matters
Pour in the remaining oyster liquor and cover with pie crust.. Liquor added in two portions lets the crumbs absorb moisture evenly. Sealing the crust traps steam so the oysters cook gently and the filling stays juicy rather than dry.
“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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