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Oysters Au Gratin

Oysters au gratin is baked oysters topped with a cheese and cracker crumb mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 ↓

Oysters Au Gratin

Ingredients

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 the oysters

  1. Wash the oysters thoroughly.

  2. Place the oysters in a kettle with the water and bring to a boil.

  3. Drain the oysters through a colander.

Make the sauce

  1. In a separate bowl, thicken the oyster liquor with flour and grated cheese.

  2. Add butter, cream, salt, and cayenne pepper to the mixture and stir well.

Bake and serve

  1. Combine the mixture with the oysters and place in buttered individual baking dishes.

  2. Top with a layer of cracker crumbs and cheese.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden.

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. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  5. Cheese + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,655 recipes

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

Flour and butter 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
Form the main body of the dish and provide its briny flavour.
Flour
Thickens the oyster liquor into a smooth, cohesive sauce.
Grated cheese
Adds savoury richness and helps the topping brown.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a silky mouthfeel in the sauce.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, giving the sauce a smooth, creamy body.

The step that matters

Thickening the oyster liquor. Flour must be fully mixed in and cooked enough to thicken the liquid smoothly; otherwise the sauce can stay pasty or lumpy. Adding the cream and cheese to a sauce that is too hot or boiling can also cause it to separate or turn grainy.

“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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