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Mock Oysters

A pancake made from grated salsify, eggs, cream, flour, butter, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Mock Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Grate the salsify.

  2. In a bowl, mix grated salsify with eggs, cream, flour, and salt.

Cook

  1. Heat butter in a skillet over medium heat.

  2. Pour the mixture into the skillet to form pancakes.

  3. Fry until golden brown on both sides.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

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

Salsify
Provides the oyster-like flavor and the main bulk of the pancake.
Eggs
Bind the grated salsify and help the pancakes hold together while cooking.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness to the batter.
Flour
Absorbs liquid and gives the pancakes structure so they set when fried.
Butter
Fat for frying that adds flavor and browns the pancake surfaces.

The step that matters

Frying the pancakes. The batter is loose and wet from the grated salsify and cream, so it can fall apart or stick. The pan needs to be hot enough to set the surface quickly, and the pancakes should be turned only once the edges look set and the underside is golden brown.

“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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