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Beefsteak and Oysters

A stew of beefsteak and oysters simmered with butter, water, pepper, salt, and oyster liquor.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Beefsteak and Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Heat the butter in a stew pan over medium heat.

  2. Add the beefsteak and sear until browned.

  3. Pour in the water, then add pepper, salt, and the strained oyster liquor.

  4. Cover and let it stew gently over moderate heat.

  5. Once the beef is tender, add the butter rolled in flour and the oysters.

  6. Cook until the oysters are done, then serve hot.

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 + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,663 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Butter and flour 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

Beefsteak
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through slow stewing after searing.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, and browns the beef during searing.
Oysters
Contribute their distinctive briny flavor and tender texture to the stew.
Flour
Rolled into the butter, it thickens the cooking liquid into a light sauce.

The step that matters

Adding the oysters. Oysters cook quickly and turn tough and rubbery if overcooked. Add them only once the beef is tender, and stop as soon as they are just 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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