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Scalloped Oysters

Scalloped oysters are baked oysters topped with a creamy sauce and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk 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 Oysters

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the oysters

  1. Scald the oysters.

  2. Remove the gills.

  3. Strain the liquor into a bowl.

  4. Cut the oysters in half.

Make the sauce

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

  2. Stir in the flour.

  3. Add the milk and cream.

  4. Season with cayenne, salt, and nutmeg.

  5. Stir in the egg yolks and oyster liquor.

  6. Mix the oysters into the sauce.

Bake and serve

  1. Fill buttered scallop shells with the mixture.

  2. Top with brown bread crumbs.

  3. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 5 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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they 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
Form the main body of the dish and provide its briny flavour.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and adds richness and flavour.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk into a smooth, stable sauce.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving it a creamy body.
Egg yolks
Help bind and thicken the sauce as it heats, adding richness.
Brown bread crumbs
Form a topping that adds texture and helps the top brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Stir in the egg yolks and oyster liquor. Egg yolks thicken when heated, but if the sauce gets too hot or boils after they go in, they can curdle and turn grainy. Keep the heat moderate and stir constantly.

“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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