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Oyster Pie

A savory pie with oysters, egg yolks, breadcrumbs, and spices baked in pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Oyster Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Butter the dish and spread the pastry over the sides and edge, leaving the bottom bare.

  3. In a pan, season the drained oysters with pepper, coarse sea salt, spices, and butter.

Assemble and bake

  1. Add the chopped egg yolks and grated bread crumbs to the oysters.

  2. Pour the oysters and some of their liquor into the dish with the pastry.

  3. Roll out the pastry lid and place it on top, crimping the edges.

  4. Bake in the preheated oven until golden.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

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

  3. Oyster + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,545 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,103 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Large oysters
Provide the main filling and the savory flavor of the pie.
Rich pastry
Forms the crust that encloses the filling and browns in the oven.
Boiled egg yolks
Add richness and a crumbly, creamy texture to the filling.
Grated bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help bind the filling together.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the seasoned oysters and helps the crust brown.

The step that matters

Pouring the oysters and liquor into the pastry. Oysters release liquid as they cook, so adding too much liquor can soak the pastry and leave the base soggy. Draining the oysters first and adding only some of their liquor keeps the crust crisp.

“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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