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Oyster Stew

A warm oyster stew made with oysters, cold water, butter, milk, salt, and optional crackers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Oyster Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Poach the oysters

  1. Put the oysters and cold water in a porcelain saucepan over medium heat.

  2. When the oysters swell, remove them.

  3. Strain the liquid.

  4. Do not let the liquid boil.

Make the stew

  1. Boil the strained liquid with the milk for 5 minutes.

  2. Add salt to taste.

  3. If desired, mix in the rolled, sifted crackers.

  4. Place the oysters in a warm tureen.

  5. Add bits of butter on top.

  6. Pour the boiling liquid over the oysters.

  7. Serve immediately.

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

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

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

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

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 texture of the stew.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel as it melts over the hot oysters.
Milk
Adds creaminess and body to the broth, softening its sharpness.
Rolled, sifted crackers
Optionally thicken the stew slightly as they absorb liquid.

The step that matters

Do not let the liquid boil. Oysters toughen and shrink when overcooked, so the liquid should stay just below boiling while the oysters swell. Boiling them would make them rubbery and reduce their delicate flavor.

“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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