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Fried Oysters

A dish of oysters coated in crumbs and fried in butter and olive oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Fried Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Melt the butter and strain it into a frying pan.

  2. Add the olive oil and heat the pan.

  3. Place the oysters on a napkin to absorb excess liquid.

Bread the oysters

  1. Roll the oysters in powdered crackers or bread crumbs.

  2. Beat the eggs and mix in the milk, salt, and pepper.

  3. Dip the oysters in the egg mixture and roll them in crumbs again.

  4. Place the breaded oysters on a plate without stacking them.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry the oysters in the hot butter and oil until golden brown.

  2. Serve the fried oysters on a napkin covering a platter.

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 + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Olive + breadtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,091 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Are the main food, cooked until the coating turns crisp and golden.
Eggs
Bind the crumb coating to the oysters so it adheres during frying.
Powdered crackers or bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden outer coating that protects the oysters while frying.
Butter
Adds rich flavor and helps the coating brown in the frying pan.
Olive oil
Raises the frying fat's heat tolerance and helps the coating brown evenly.

The step that matters

Dry the oysters before breading. Excess liquid on the oysters keeps the crumb coating from sticking and turns steam into moisture that makes the coating soggy and prevents browning. Blotting them on a napkin first helps the coating adhere and crisp in the hot fat.

“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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