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Sauce

Oyster Catsup

A fermented oyster sauce made by boiling oysters with vinegar and spices, then reducing the liquid.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cider and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,431 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Oyster Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the ketchup

  1. Chop the oysters and boil them in their own liquor with the vinegar, skimming off any foam that rises.

  2. Boil for 3 minutes, then strain through a fine sieve.

  3. Return the liquid to the heat, add the cayenne pepper, salt, and mace.

  4. Boil for an additional 15 minutes.

Bottle

  1. Once cooled, bottle the mixture and seal tightly.

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. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Mace + cidertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together658 recipes
  5. Pepper + cidertop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,234 recipes

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

Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Provide the main savoury body and briny flavour of the ketchup.
Cider vinegar
Adds acidity that preserves the mixture and sharpens its flavour.
Cayenne pepper
Adds heat that gives the ketchup its sharp, peppery bite.
Ground mace
Adds warm, aromatic spice notes to the sauce.

The step that matters

Skimming the foam while the oysters first boil. Foam that rises early carries impurities and cloudiness into the liquid. Skimming it keeps the ketchup clear and cleanly flavoured before straining.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, pepper, cider, vinegar):

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Dillfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, pepper, cider, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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