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Beefsteak Smothered in Oysters

Broiled porter‑house steaks topped with stewed oysters and a butter, pepper, and coarse sea salt sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Oyster and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,184 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Beefsteak Smothered in Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Cook the steaks

  1. Broil the porter‑house steaks until nicely cooked and arrange them on a platter.

Prepare the oysters

  1. Stew the oysters slightly in their own liquor.

  2. Arrange the oysters in rows on each steak.

  3. Season the oyster liquor with butter, pepper, and coarse sea salt.

  4. Pour the seasoned oyster liquor over the steaks.

Finish and serve

  1. Place a little butter on each steak.

  2. Set the steaks in a 400°F (200°C) oven for a moment until quite 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. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

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

  2. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

  3. Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,663 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

Porter-house steaks
Provide the main meat, cooked by broiling to a browned, tender result.
Oysters
Add a briny, savoury flavour and a soft texture when gently stewed.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, carrying flavour over the hot steaks.

The step that matters

Stew the oysters slightly in their own liquor. Oysters curl and toughen quickly when overheated. Warming them only until the edges just firm keeps them tender, and their own liquor carries the briny flavour back onto the steaks.

“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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