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Oyster Stew, Pried and Escaloped, According to Delmonico

A quick oyster stew served over a tablespoon of milk per person.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Oyster and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,933 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Oyster Stew, Pried and Escaloped, According to Delmonico

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stew

  1. Combine oyster liquor and water in a stew pan, then add salt, pepper, and rolled crackers.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Add the oysters to the boiling liquid and cook for 30 seconds.

Serve

  1. Prepare bowls with a tablespoon of milk for each person.

  2. Pour the oyster stew over the milk and serve immediately.

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. Oyster + milktop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,933 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + milktop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,663 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 ingredient and delicate briny flavor, cooking quickly in the hot liquid.
Rolled crackers
Thicken the stew slightly as they soften and absorb liquid.
Milk
Adds richness and mellows the briny flavor of the stew.

The step that matters

Add the oysters to the boiling liquid and cook for 30 seconds. Oysters toughen and turn rubbery when overcooked, so they need only a brief exposure to heat to firm slightly and stay tender.

“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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