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Curried Oysters

Curried oysters are oysters simmered in butter, curry powder, flour, onion, lemon juice, and oyster liquor.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and butter 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 ↓

Curried Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the curry base

  1. In a stewpan, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Mix the curry powder and flour into the melted butter.

  3. Add the chopped onion and cook until browned, stirring constantly.

Finish and serve

  1. Pour in the oyster liquor and lemon juice, and bring to a boil for 5 minutes.

  2. Add the oysters and heat until just cooked through.

  3. Serve with a side of rice.

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. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

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

  3. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter 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

Oysters
Provide the main protein and briny flavor that the curry sauce carries.
Onion
Browns to add sweetness and depth to the curry base.
Curry powder
Supplies the spiced aroma that defines the dish.
Flour
Thickens the butter and curry mixture into a smooth sauce base.
Butter
Carries the spices and adds richness to the sauce.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich curry sauce.

The step that matters

Add the oysters and heat until just cooked through. Oysters toughen and turn rubbery when overheated, so they should be added at the end and heated only until they firm and turn opaque.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, onion, flour, butter):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, onion, flour, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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