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Oyster Soup

A clear soup of beef stock with oysters poached in white wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Leek and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,046 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Oyster Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the consommé

  1. Combine the beef, bones, and salted water in a saucepan.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil and skim carefully.

  3. Add the carrots, onions, leek, turnip, and parsley.

  4. Simmer for 5 to 6 hours.

  5. Skim the consommé thoroughly.

  6. Strain the consommé through a fine sieve.

Poach and serve

  1. Poach the oysters in white wine for a few minutes.

  2. Place the oysters in a soup tureen.

  3. Pour the consommé over the 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.

  1. Leek + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together8,053 recipes

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

  3. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turnip + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Carrot + leektop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,310 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Gives the consommé its meaty flavour and body as it simmers.
Marrow bone
Adds richness and gelatin, giving the broth more body and mouthfeel.
Oysters
Provide the briny, delicate seafood flavour that defines the soup.
White wine
Adds acidity that brightens the oysters and lightly flavours them while poaching.

The step that matters

Skim the consommé thoroughly. Skimming removes coagulated proteins and fat that would cloud the broth. A clear consommé depends on removing these impurities as they rise during the long simmer.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, leek, turnip, parsley, oyster, white wine):

  1. Shallotbetter flavor fit
  2. Parsnipbetter flavor fit
  3. Chivebetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, leek, turnip, parsley, oyster, white wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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