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Devilled Oysters, Grilled

Grilled devilled oysters seasoned with salt, pepper, and cayenne, served with lemon, croutons, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Devilled Oysters, Grilled

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Open, drain, and trim the oysters.

  2. Season the oysters with coarse sea salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.

  3. Dip the oysters in oiled butter.

Cook and serve

  1. Place the oysters on a grill and broil for about five minutes.

  2. Serve on a round dish, garnished with rings of lemon, fried croutons, and parsley.

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. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

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

  5. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

What each ingredient does

Large oysters
Serve as the main ingredient, cooked briefly so they stay tender and juicy.
Oiled butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the oysters brown and carry the seasoning under the heat.
Cayenne pepper
Adds heat and a sharp, peppery bite that contrasts with the rich oysters.

The step that matters

Broil the oysters for about five minutes. Oysters are delicate and overcook quickly, becoming rubbery and dry. Watching them closely under the heat keeps them tender while the butter browns lightly.

“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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