Name: Scalloped Oysters
Ingredients: 50 oysters, well drained; bread crumbs, well buttered; ¼ teaspoon pepper; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt'); ¼ teaspoon mace

Why it works: Oyster and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,545 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Scalloped Oysters

Ingredients

50 oysters, well drained
bread crumbs, well buttered
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt')
¼ teaspoon mace

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Assemble

Layer half of the oysters in a small dish.
Add a layer of buttered bread crumbs over the oysters.
Repeat with the remaining oysters and bread crumbs.
Sprinkle with pepper, salt, and mace.

Bake

Bake for 20 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.

Oyster + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,545 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,257 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,964 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,663 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Bread + macetop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,005 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 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: Form the main body of the dish and release their juices, which moisten the crumbs as they cook.
Bread crumbs: Absorb the oyster liquor and add structure, while the butter helps them brown in the oven.
Mace: Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour that complements the seafood.