Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 81,283 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Oyster Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the oysters and place them in a kettle with a little cold water to plump.
Once hot, remove the oysters.
Keep the oysters covered in a warm place.
Make the soup
Add 1 quart of boiling water, pepper, coarse sea salt, and ½ cup of butter to the kettle.
When boiling, add 1 quart of hot milk and wait until the mixture comes to a boil.
Add the oysters and boil for a moment.
Serve
Pour the soup over a bowl of broken crackers in a tureen.
Serve hot.
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.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Oyster + milktop 20% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,933 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together26,984 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Oysters
- Provide the main flavor and tender body of the soup.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the broth.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and softens the briny flavor of the oysters.
The step that matters
Adding the oysters and boiling briefly. Oyster proteins toughen and shrink when held at heat for long. A short boil heats them through while keeping them plump and tender, so they should not be cooked for long.
“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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