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Oyster Soup

A soup made with veal, plaice, oysters, butter, flour, milk, cream, onion, bay leaf, and anchovy essence.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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

Make the broth

  1. In a pot, add 1 quart of cold water, veal cut into small pieces, onion, and bay leaf.

  2. Simmer gently for 3 hours, then strain the broth.

  3. Once the broth is cold, remove any fat that has formed on the surface.

Make the soup

  1. In a separate pan, melt the butter and stir in the flour to make a roux.

  2. Gradually add the strained broth, milk, and cream, stirring constantly until smooth.

  3. Add the plaice and oysters, and cook until the fish is tender.

  4. Season with anchovy essence, salt, and pepper to taste.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Oyster + anchovytop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together603 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together41,516 recipes

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

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, 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

Veal knuckle
Gives the broth its body and rich meaty flavour as it simmers.
Butter
Fat that forms the base of the roux and carries flavour.
Flour
Thickens the butter and broth into a smooth, velvety base.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mild sweetness, softening the soup's body.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the soup.
Oysters
Contribute a briny, savoury sea flavour to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Gradually adding the broth to the roux. Adding liquid all at once to a hot roux can trap flour in lumps. Adding it slowly while stirring constantly lets the starch disperse evenly and thicken into a smooth sauce.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, butter, flour, milk, cream, oyster, anchovy):

  1. Potatobetter flavor fit
  2. Shallotabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Asparagusabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, butter, flour, milk, cream, oyster, anchovy. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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