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Scalloped Clams

A baked clam dish layered with bread crumbs, butter, pepper, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Scalloped Clams

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).

  2. Butter a deep tin dish.

Layer

  1. Layer half of the grated bread or cracker crumbs in the dish, then sprinkle with pepper and bits of butter.

  2. Add a layer of chopped clams, seasoned with butter and pepper.

  3. Repeat the layers of crumbs and clams until the dish is full.

  4. Finish with a layer of crumbs and plenty of butter on top.

Bake and serve

  1. Add 1 cup of rich milk and cover with a plate.

  2. Bake for 45 minutes.

  3. Remove the plate to brown the top before serving.

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 + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Butter + clamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together840 recipes

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

  5. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 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

Clams
Provide the main savory filling and flavor of the dish.
Bread or cracker crumbs
Form the layered base that soaks up liquid and gives the dish body.
Rich milk
Moistens the layers and cooks into a creamy, custard-like binder.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, helping the top brown during baking.

The step that matters

Removing the plate to brown the top. Covering the dish traps steam and keeps the top pale and moist. Uncovering it lets dry heat reach the surface, so the crumbs and butter can toast and 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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