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Scalloped Oysters

Scalloped oysters baked with butter, cracker crumbs, salt, pepper, cream, and oyster liquor.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Scalloped Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Drain and wash the oysters in a colander to remove any shell bits.

  2. Butter a deep pudding dish and cover the bottom with cracker crumbs.

  3. Season the crumbs with salt, pepper, and bits of butter.

Assemble

  1. Layer oysters on top, seasoned, followed by another layer of cracker crumbs, and repeat until all oysters are used.

  2. Top with more cracker crumbs and bits of butter.

  3. Pour over a few tablespoons of strained oyster liquor and 1 cup of cream.

Bake

  1. Bake covered for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake for another 30 minutes.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  3. Oyster + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,886 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,663 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Form the main body of the dish and provide the briny, savory flavor.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb liquid and form a soft, layered crust that browns on top.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the top crumbs brown during baking.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, and sets into a custard-like sauce as it bakes.
Oyster liquor
Adds concentrated oyster flavor and moisture to the layers.

The step that matters

Bake covered, then uncover. Baking covered first lets the oysters cook gently in the cream without drying out, while uncovering for the second half lets the top crumbs brown. Covering the whole time would leave the top pale and soft.

“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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