Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Oyster Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Drain the juice from the oysters.
In a bowl, combine the oyster juice, milk, salt, and beaten eggs.
Add enough flour to create a batter similar to griddle-cakes.
Fry and serve
Envelop each oyster in a spoonful of the batter.
Heat butter and lard in a frying pan over medium heat.
Fry the oysters until golden brown on both sides.
Serve immediately while hot.
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.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,103 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help it set and hold together as the fritters cook.
- Flour
- Thickens the batter so it coats each oyster and holds its shape while frying.
- Oysters
- Provide the main flavor and tender filling inside the crisp batter coating.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and richness, and helps the batter brown during frying.
The step that matters
Fry the oysters until golden brown on both sides. The oil must be hot enough to set the batter quickly; if it is too cool, the batter absorbs fat and turns greasy, and if the batter browns too fast the centre may stay underdone.
“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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