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Chicken and Oyster Pie

A pie of chicken, oysters and ham in white sauce, covered with puff paste or flaky crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,814 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, sweet. The science ↓

Chicken and Oyster Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the pie

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Make the White Sauce using strained oyster juice and boiling water, then add grated onion and seasonings.

  3. Line a deep pie dish with a thin layer of Puff Paste, building up the edges with extra layers.

Fill and cover

  1. Fill the dish with chicken, oysters, and ham, then pour the sauce over the top.

  2. Roll out the Puff Paste to 1 inch thick and cover the pie, moistening the edges to seal.

  3. Notch and trim the edges neatly, then cut an 'X' in the center.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, watching carefully to prevent scorching.

  2. Brush the top with beaten egg yolk mixed with milk, then return to the oven for 2 to 3 minutes until browned.

  3. Bake a small piece of crust in a fancy shape separately to cover the hole in the pie.

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. Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  2. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Chicken + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,389 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

  4. Oyster + hamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together360 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

Chicken
Forms the main body of the filling, providing substance and savory flavor.
Oysters
Add a briny, savory flavor to the filling and sauce.
Ham
Adds salty, savory depth to the filling.
Puff paste or flaky crust
Forms a layered, flaky crust that rises and browns in the oven.
Egg yolk
Brushed on top to promote browning and a glossy finish.

The step that matters

Baking the crust. Puff paste can scorch before the filling heats through if the oven is too hot or the pie is left unwatched. Watching the top closely and checking browning helps the pastry bake evenly and turn golden without burning.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, oyster, ham, sauce, egg, milk, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, oyster, ham, sauce, egg, milk, pepper. 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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