Name: Oyster Stew with Milk
Ingredients: 1½ cups milk; 1 cup water; oyster liquor; 1 tablespoon butter; pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste; ¾ cup cracker crumbs

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 81,283 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Oyster Stew with Milk

Ingredients

Directions

In a pot, combine milk, water, and oyster liquor. Bring to a boil.
Add cracker crumbs and oysters. Boil for 1 minute.
Remove from heat and serve.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together8,184 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Milk + oystertop 20% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together2,933 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together26,984 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).