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Scalloped Oysters

Scalloped oysters are baked with butter, cream, crackers, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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

Make the base

  1. Melt the butter in a chafing dish.

  2. Add the cream and mix well.

Layer and cook

  1. Layer the drained oysters in the dish.

  2. Sprinkle rolled crackers over the oysters.

  3. Add another layer of oysters, followed by more crackers and small pieces of butter.

  4. Season with salt and pepper.

  5. Cover and cook for 10 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. Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

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

  3. Cream + oystertop 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
Provide the main substance and briny flavor of the dish.
Rolled crackers
Absorb liquid and add body, giving the layers a soft, crumbly texture.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, helping the layers turn tender and saucy as they cook.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor through the layers.

The step that matters

Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Oysters cook quickly and turn firm and rubbery if overheated. Covering traps steam so the oysters cook gently and evenly while the cream and crackers soften together.

“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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