Why it works: Fish and oyster work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 496 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Oyster Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the oysters
Open the oysters and save all the liquor.
Place the oysters in a small saucepan with the liquor and enough fish stock to just cover them.
Heat the pan until you see the first signs of boiling.
Remove the pan from the heat and let it sit for 2 minutes.
Strain the liquor into a basin.
Set the oysters aside.
Make the sauce
Melt ½ oz of butter in a small saucepan.
Stir in ½ oz of flour.
Cook for 1-2 minutes without browning.
Gradually stir in the strained liquor.
Stir in ½ pint of fish stock.
Add a dust of cayenne pepper and salt if needed.
Stir until it boils.
If the sauce is not thick enough, mix a little more flour with cold water and add it until the desired thickness is reached.
Once thickened, add the remaining ½ oz of butter.
Add the oysters.
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.
-
Fish + oystertop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together496 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + fishtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
-
Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce with fat, giving it a smooth, rich mouthfeel.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce as its starch swells in the hot liquid.
- Oysters
- Provide the main flavour and briny taste of the sauce.
- Fish stock
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce, adding savoury depth.
The step that matters
Cook the flour roux without browning. Cooking the butter and flour together for 1-2 minutes cooks out the raw starch taste and helps the flour thicken smoothly. Browning would change the colour and flavour of the pale sauce, and stirring while adding liquid prevents lumps.
“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.
More oyster sauce recipes
You might also like
Fried Fish120 recipes
Fish Croquettes81 recipes
Scalloped Cod69 recipes
Broiled Fish68 recipesThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.