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To Pickle Oysters

Oysters pickled in vinegar, spices, and optional mushroom ketchup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 602 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

To Pickle Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Poach the oysters

  1. Put the oysters in a saucepan with their liquor over medium heat.

  2. Do not let them boil.

  3. Remove from heat when the oysters are white and firm.

  4. Remove the gills.

  5. Strain the liquor.

Make the pickle liquor

  1. Combine the strained liquor with twice its quantity of vinegar in a stone jar.

  2. Add mushroom ketchup, bay leaves, tarragon, and shallots to the jar.

  3. Stew the mixture in a 300°F (150°C) oven for three hours.

Pickle and seal

  1. Once cooled, place the oysters in a jar with pounded sugar, peppercorns, allspice, and bay leaves.

  2. Fill the jar with vinegar.

  3. Cork it and secure it with bladder.

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. Tarragon + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together602 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Tarragon + allspicetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together127 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Mushroom + shallottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Shallot + allspicetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together386 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Vinegar + tarragontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,547 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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 flesh that is cooked gently and then preserved in the pickle.
Vinegar
Acidifies the liquid, preserving the oysters and giving the pickle its sharp flavour.
Shallots
Add savoury, aromatic depth to the pickle liquor as it stews.
Pounded sugar
Adds a touch of sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.

The step that matters

Do not let the oysters boil. Boiling toughens oyster flesh and makes it rubbery. Gentle heat only until the oysters turn white and firm keeps them tender before they are pickled.

Flavor stand-ins for the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, vinegar, mushroom, ketchup, tarragon, shallot, sugar):

  1. Capersbetter flavor fit
  2. Thymebetter flavor fit
  3. Marjoramabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, vinegar, mushroom, ketchup, tarragon, shallot, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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