Skip to main content
Main

Scalloped Oysters

Scalloped oysters are baked oysters in a creamy wine sauce topped with breadcrumbs and Parmesan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Scalloped Oysters

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the oysters

  1. Scald the oysters in boiling water, then drain and remove their beards.

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, combine the oyster liquor, cream, wine, lemon juice, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and flour, then mix with butter.

  2. Heat the sauce over medium heat, stirring until it boils and thickens.

  3. Add the oysters to the sauce and stir in the beaten egg yolks.

Bake and serve

  1. Fill scallop shells with the oyster mixture, top with breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese, and baste with warmed butter.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until browned, or use a salamander to brown the tops.

  3. Serve hot on a folded napkin or decorative dish.

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. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

  2. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  4. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  5. Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Cream
Adds richness and body, helping the sauce become smooth and thick.
Flour
Thickens the sauce so it clings to the oysters instead of running off.
Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the sauce, giving it a smooth, set texture when heated gently.
Butter
Adds fat and flavor to the sauce and helps the breadcrumb topping brown.
Oysters
Provide the main seafood flavor and texture of the dish.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolks to the sauce. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat; if the sauce is too hot when they go in, they can scramble and turn grainy. Remove the pan from the heat or temper the yolks first, then stir gently.

“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.

You might also like

Lemon SauceLemon Sauce236 recipesMacaroni and CheeseMacaroni and Cheese102 recipesCheese MakingCheese Making50 recipesCheese FrittersCheese Fritters34 recipes