Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 14,037 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Stewed Oysters, Etc
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the oysters
Blanch the oysters in their own liquor with a pinch of salt and remove them.
Make the sauce
In a saucepan, add butter, lemon juice, cream, and flour.
Simmer the sauce until it thickens.
Beat the egg and add it to the sauce, stirring well.
Serve
Place the oysters in a serving dish, pour the sauce over them, and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Oysters
- Are the main ingredient, cooked gently in their own liquor so they stay tender.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the sauce a smooth, rounded flavour.
- Flour
- Thickens the cream into a sauce as it simmers.
- Egg
- Beaten into the sauce, it adds body and helps give a silky, lightly set texture.
- Cream
- Provides fat and moisture, forming the body of the sauce.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich cream sauce.
The step that matters
Simmering the sauce before adding the egg. Flour needs to simmer long enough to thicken and lose its raw taste. Egg added to a very hot sauce can curdle, so stir it in well and keep the sauce from boiling hard after that.
“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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