Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Mock Oyster Stew
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cod
Simmer the soaked salt cod in water until soft, then shred it finely.
Mix the shredded cod with the dry flour.
Make the stew
In a chafing dish, melt the butter and add the cod mixture and split oyster crackers.
Pour the hot milk or cream over the mixture and season with pepper.
Stir constantly for 5 to 10 minutes until heated through.
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.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Salt cod
- Provides the main savory, seafood-like flavour that stands in for oysters.
- Dry flour
- Coats the cod and helps thicken the milk or cream into a stew.
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries flavour through the dish.
- Oyster crackers
- Soak up liquid and add body and a soft, starchy texture.
- Milk or cream
- Forms the liquid base that makes the stew creamy.
The step that matters
Stir constantly while heating. Flour-thickened hot milk or cream can scorch on the bottom of the pan or dish and form lumps if left unstirred. Constant stirring keeps the heat even and the thickening smooth.
“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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