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Capital Oyster Ketchup

A preserved oyster ketchup made with oysters, anchovies, wine, lemon, spices, and shallots.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Capital Oyster Ketchup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine the oysters, anchovies, white wine, and sliced lemon in a pot.

  2. Boil gently for 1 hour.

  3. Strain the mixture through muslin.

  4. Add cloves, mace, and nutmeg, then boil for an additional 15 minutes.

  5. Stir in the shallots, then let the mixture cool.

  6. Bottle the ketchup for later use.

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. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Nutmeg + shallottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,019 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Clove + shallottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,677 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Provide the core savory, briny flavour that gives the ketchup its character.
Anchovies
Add deep savoury umami that rounds out the shellfish flavour.
White wine
Acts as the liquid that extracts flavour from the oysters and anchovies during boiling.
Cloves
Contribute warm, aromatic spice notes to the finished ketchup.
Mace
Adds a delicate, warm aroma that complements the spices and seafood.
Shallots
Contribute mild onion-like aroma and savoury depth to the ketchup.

The step that matters

Strain the mixture through muslin. Straining removes solids and fine particles so the ketchup becomes clear and smooth rather than gritty. Skipping or rushing this step leaves sediment in the bottled product.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, white wine, lemon, clove, nutmeg, shallot):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, white wine, lemon, clove, nutmeg, shallot. 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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