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Oyster Soup, with Celery

A soup made with oysters, celery, water, butter, milk, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Oyster Soup, with Celery

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Shuck the oysters and reserve the liquor.

  2. Chop the celery and simmer it in water until tender.

Make the soup

  1. Add the oyster liquor and butter to the celery.

  2. Season with salt and pepper.

  3. Stir in the milk and bring to a gentle simmer.

  4. Add the oysters and cook until they are just firm.

Serve

  1. 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. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Oyster + milktop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,933 recipes

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

  5. Oyster + celerytop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,131 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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 tender texture that defines the soup.
Celery
Adds a fresh, aromatic vegetable flavour as it softens in the water.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the broth.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mellows the briny, saline edge of the oysters.

The step that matters

Add the oysters and cook until they are just firm. Oysters toughen and shrink quickly when overheated. Holding them at a gentle simmer only until their edges firm keeps them tender and juicy.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Cinnamonfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, butter, pepper, milk. 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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