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Oyster-and-Steak Radeau

A veal steak rolled with oysters, breadcrumbs, herbs, and butter, baked in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Oyster-and-Steak Radeau

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the filling

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Mix breadcrumbs, parsley, mixed herbs, pepper, and salt in a bowl. Cream the butter and combine it with the breadcrumb mixture.

  3. Flatten the veal steak and spread the seasoning over it or layer with oysters.

Roll and bake

  1. Roll up the steak and tie it with twine.

  2. Place it in a pie dish and pour boiling water around it.

  3. Cover and bake for 40 minutes, basting frequently.

  4. Remove the cover to brown the steak before it's done.

Finish and serve

  1. Take off the twine, thicken the gravy with browned flour, and serve hot.

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Parsley + vealtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,766 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Pepper + vealtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,049 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Veal steak
Forms the outer wrap and the main body of the roulade, becoming tender as it cooks slowly in water.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying the herbs and crumbs and keeping the filling moist during baking.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb the melted butter and bind the herbs into a soft, spreadable filling.
Oysters (in the method)
Add a briny, savoury flavour to the filling when layered over the steak.

The step that matters

Remove the cover to brown the steak before it's done. Browning relies on the Maillard reaction, which needs dry surface heat. Uncovering too late leaves the steak pale, while uncovering too early lets moisture escape and dries the meat.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, butter, veal):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Sagefits about as well
  3. Thymefits less well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, veal. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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