Skip to main content
Drink

Peptonized Oysters

A medicinal oyster preparation with pancreas extract, bicarbonate, milk, and optional gelatine and flavorings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Milk and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,226 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Peptonized Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the oysters

  1. Mince the oysters and place them in their own liquor.

  2. Add the extract of pancreas and bicarbonate of soda.

  3. Add cooked tomatoes, onions, celery, or other flavorings at the beginning.

Make the mixture

  1. Heat the mixture to blood temperature (about 98.6°F or 37°C).

  2. Maintain the mixture for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

  3. Add the milk.

  4. Keep the temperature up for 10 to 20 minutes.

  5. Bring the mixture to a boil.

Finish and serve

  1. Strain the mixture and serve.

  2. If desired, add gelatine.

  3. Serve cold as a jelly.

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. Milk + tomatotop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,226 recipes

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

  2. Oyster + milktop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,933 recipes

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

  3. Oyster + tomatotop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together534 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Provide the main protein and flavour that the mixture is built around.
Extract of pancreas
Enzymes that partly break down the oyster protein, softening and predigesting the mixture.
Bicarbonate of soda
Raises the alkalinity of the mixture, which helps the enzymes work.
Milk
Adds liquid, richness and body to the mixture.
Gelatine
Sets the mixture into a jelly when it is served cold.

The step that matters

Maintaining blood temperature for 30 minutes. Pancreatic enzymes work best near body temperature. Letting the mixture cool or overheat stops or destroys their action, so the protein may not break down as intended.

Swap the tomato

The recipe marks tomato as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, milk):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Cucumberfits better
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, milk. 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.

You might also like

Vegetable SoupVegetable Soup350 recipesRaspberry VinegarRaspberry Vinegar214 recipesBrown Coffee with EggBrown Coffee with Egg175 recipesBlackberry CordialBlackberry Cordial129 recipes