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Scalloped Oysters

A baked oyster dish layered with bread crumbs, butter, and seasoning, finished with water or milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. 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

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

  2. Butter a baking dish generously.

Layer and bake

  1. Layer the bottom with bread crumbs or crushed crackers.

  2. Add a layer of oysters, seasoning with salt, pepper, and bits of butter.

  3. Repeat layers of crackers and oysters until the dish is full, finishing with a layer of crumbs and butter.

  4. Pour the oyster liquor mixed with boiling water over the top.

  5. Bake for 15 minutes, then add more hot water or milk if needed.

  6. Cover with a lid to prevent over-browning and bake for an additional 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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

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

  5. Oyster + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,545 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

Oysters
Provide the main flavor and tender, briny filling that cooks through in the baked layers.
Bread crumbs or crushed crackers
Form the absorbent layers that soak up liquid and hold the dish together as it bakes.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the top brown while keeping the layers moist.
Milk
Adds moisture and creaminess to the baked layers and liquid.

The step that matters

Covering the dish before the final bake. Covering the dish during the last 30 minutes traps steam, so the oysters cook gently and the top does not over-brown or dry out before the filling is done.

“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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