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Oysters a LA Mode

Oysters a la mode is a steamed oyster dish topped with egg whites, bread crumbs, butter, lemon, and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Oysters a LA Mode

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

Make and fill

  1. Stir the whites of the eggs into the mixture briskly.

  2. Fill small white fireproof souffle cups with the sauce.

Top and cook

  1. Grate browned bread crumbs on top of each cup.

  2. Place small dabs of butter on top, about the size of a pea.

  3. Steam for about 30 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. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

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

  4. Bread + oystertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,545 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Whites of eggs
Whipped or stirred into the mixture to add lightness and structure as it cooks.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, browned topping that adds texture over the soft custard.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, melting into the topping as it cooks.
Oysters
Provide the main savoury flavour and tender texture of the dish.

The step that matters

Stir the whites of the eggs into the mixture briskly. Brisk stirring incorporates the egg whites evenly, so the mixture sets smoothly and holds air rather than separating into layers.

“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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