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Scalloped Oysters

A baked oyster dish with bread crumbs, butter, celery, and sweet milk, topped with paprika.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Scalloped Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Assemble and bake

  1. In a casserole or baking dish, layer the crumbs and oysters alternately, mixing in a little minced celery and dotting with butter as you go, making sure the crumbs are always on top.

  2. Pour enough sweet milk over the mixture to moisten, but do not cover the crumbs.

  3. Cover the dish and bake for about 20 minutes.

Brown and serve

  1. Remove the cover and place under the broiler to brown lightly on top.

  2. Before serving, sprinkle a little paprika over the top.

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. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, 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 body and briny flavor of the dish.
Bread and cracker crumbs
Form the layers that soak up liquid and give the topping structure.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the top brown during broiling.
Sweet milk
Moistens the crumbs so they soften and bind during baking.
Celery
Adds a fresh, aromatic vegetable note.

The step that matters

Keep the crumbs on top and do not cover them with milk. Crumbs exposed above the liquid can toast and brown under the broiler, while crumbs left submerged stay soggy. Adding just enough milk to moisten keeps the layers from becoming a wet paste.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, bread, pepper, butter, milk):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Cinnamonfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, bread, pepper, butter, milk. 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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