Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Oyster Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Dissolve the butter in the strained oyster liquor.
Stir in the flour to make a batter.
Remove from heat and add the eggs one by one, mixing well.
Fry the oysters
Remove the gills from the oysters and dip each into the batter.
Fry in boiling fat until golden brown.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,103 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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
- Oysters
- Provide the main flavour and the tender filling inside the crisp batter coating.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and liquor into a batter that coats the oysters and holds together.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add richness so it sets firm and golden when fried.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the batter and helps the flour form a smooth base.
The step that matters
Fry in boiling fat until golden brown. The fat must be hot enough that the batter sets and browns quickly. If it is too cool, the batter absorbs fat, becomes greasy, and the oysters overcook before the coating crisps.
“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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