Name: Park Row Oyster Stew
Ingredients: 10 oysters; ½ cup liquid (oyster liquor or water); 2 tablespoons butter; ¼ teaspoon pepper; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt'); 1 tablespoon milk

Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

Park Row Oyster Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Remove the gills from the oysters and place them in a stew pan with enough liquid to cover them.

Cook and serve

Add butter, pepper, and salt, stirring occasionally while heating.
Once heated, pour the oysters into a serving dish.
Add 1 tablespoon of milk for every 10 oysters.

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.

Butter + milktop 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).
Oyster + milktop 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).
Pepper + milktop 22% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together26,984 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters: Provide the main ingredient, with their briny flavor and tender texture when gently heated.
Butter: Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the broth.
Milk: Adds creaminess and mellows the saltiness of the stew.