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Fricasseed Oysters

A creamy oyster stew with ham, broth, and herbs, finished with a beaten egg and lemon juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,979 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Fricasseed Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ham and broth

  1. Soak the ham in boiling water for 30 minutes.

  2. Cut the ham into very small slices.

  3. In a saucepan, combine the ham, broth, oyster liquor, onion, parsley, marjoram, and pepper.

  4. Simmer for 20 minutes, boiling rapidly for 2-3 minutes.

  5. Skim the mixture.

Thicken and finish

  1. Add the cornstarch mixed with milk.

  2. Stir constantly until it boils.

  3. Add the oysters and butter, letting it come to a boil.

  4. Remove the oysters to a deeper dish.

  5. Beat the egg.

  6. Gradually mix in some hot broth.

  7. Stir the mixture into the pan.

  8. Season with salt.

  9. Pour the mixture over the oysters.

  10. Serve with lemon juice squeezed on top.

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.

  1. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Marjoram + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cornstarch
Thickens the broth into a smooth, spoonable sauce as it boils.
Egg
Enriches and thickens the sauce when gently blended into hot broth.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the sauce.
Oyster liquor
Supplies the concentrated briny, savory flavor of the oysters to the base.
Milk
Adds creaminess and softens the flavor of the thickened sauce.

The step that matters

Stir the egg into the hot broth gradually. Adding the beaten egg slowly to hot liquid, while stirring, tempers it so the proteins blend smoothly instead of scrambling into lumps. Once the mixture is stirred back into the pan, it should be heated gently so the egg thickens without curdling.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, veal, oyster, parsley, marjoram, pepper, milk):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, veal, oyster, parsley, marjoram, pepper, milk. 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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