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Scalloped Oystees

A baked oyster dish layered with Boston cracker crumbs, oyster liquor, milk, butter, and egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Scalloped Oystees

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

  1. Crush and roll the Boston crackers.

  2. Put a layer of crumbs in a buttered pudding dish.

Layer

  1. Wet the crumbs with a mixture of warmed oyster liquor and milk.

  2. Add a layer of oysters sprinkled with salt, pepper, and bits of butter.

  3. Repeat layers of moistened crumbs and oysters until the dish is full.

  4. Finish with a top layer of crumbs.

Bake

  1. Beat the egg into the milk and pour it over the top layer.

  2. Dot with bits of butter and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  3. Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,103 recipes

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

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Boston crackers
Crumbs soak up the liquid and form the soft, absorbent body of the dish.
Oysters
Provide the main savory flavor and tender texture within the layers.
Oyster liquor
Adds briny flavor and moisture that softens the crumbs.
Milk
Moistens the crumbs and helps the custard-like topping set.
Egg
Binds the milk mixture and helps it set into a custard-like layer.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the top brown during baking.

The step that matters

Pour the egg and milk mixture over the top layer. Beaten egg thickens as it heats, so it sets the topping into a custard. Mixing it well with the milk keeps the custard smooth rather than streaked with egg.

“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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