Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Oyster Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the oysters
Place the oysters in a saucepan with the water over medium heat.
Simmer gently until the oysters are just cooked, then strain the liquid into a hot dish, leaving the oysters in the colander.
Make the soup
In the same saucepan, melt the butter until it bubbles.
Sprinkle in the flour and stir well with a whisk, cooking for a few moments.
Gradually add the oyster juice and the boiled cream, stirring continuously.
Season with Cayenne pepper and salt, then skim the surface.
Add the oysters back to the soup and serve immediately without boiling.
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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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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Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Oyster + creamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,886 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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
- Oysters
- Provide the main flavour and tender texture of the soup.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour through the soup.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and liquid into a smooth, lightly bodied soup.
- Cream
- Adds richness, body and a smooth, mellow texture.
The step that matters
Add the oysters back and serve without boiling. Oysters toughen and shrink when overcooked, so they should be returned to the hot soup only at the end and never brought to a boil.
“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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