Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 41,516 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Oyster Soup
Ingredients
Directions
In a pot, combine the oysters and water.
Cook until thoroughly done.
Stir in the cream, egg yolks, butter, and flour until well mixed.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,103 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Oysters
- Provide the main flavor and the body of the soup.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, creamy texture.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the soup and thicken it as they warm.
- Butter
- Adds fat that carries flavor and gives a rich mouthfeel.
- Flour
- Thickens the liquid through starch, giving the soup body.
The step that matters
Stirring in the cream and egg yolks. Egg yolks thicken by gentle heat, but if the soup gets too hot they can scramble and curdle. Keep the heat low and stir steadily so the yolks blend into a smooth, thickened soup.
“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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