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Scalloped Oysters

Scalloped oysters are baked oysters topped with cracker crumbs, butter, egg, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Scalloped Oysters

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the oysters

  1. Drain the liquor from the oysters.

  2. Boil the liquor.

  3. Strain the boiled liquor.

  4. Remove all bits of shell from the oysters.

  5. Wash and drain the oysters.

Layer the dish

  1. Butter a shallow baking dish.

  2. Layer the oysters in the dish.

  3. Add a layer of cracker crumbs.

  4. Season the crumbs with salt and pepper.

  5. Dot the crumbs with butter.

  6. Repeat the layers until the dish is full.

  7. Finish with crumbs and butter on top.

Bake and serve

  1. Beat the egg until light.

  2. Stir the beaten egg into the oyster liquor.

  3. Add enough milk to moisten the mixture.

  4. Pour the mixture over the layered oysters.

  5. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 20 minutes.

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 + eggtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,103 recipes

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

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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 flavour and the tender filling of the dish.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb liquid and form a soft, crumbly layer between the oysters.
Egg
Binds the liquid mixture so it sets lightly when baked.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the top brown in the oven.
Milk
Moistens the crumbs and adds creaminess to the custard-like mixture.

The step that matters

Stir the beaten egg into the oyster liquor. Egg proteins set when heated, so the mixture thickens into a custard only if it is well combined and not overheated. Adding the egg evenly prevents streaks of cooked egg and keeps the texture smooth.

“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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