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Clam Soup

A soup made with clams, water, milk, butter, eggs, parsley, onion, bay leaves, allspice, and potato.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,289 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Clam Soup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a pot, combine 1 quart of water, parsley, onion, bay leaves, allspice, and potato.

  2. Boil for 15 minutes.

  3. Add clam juice and chopped clams.

  4. Before serving, stir in milk, butter, eggs, and Worcestershire sauce.

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. Parsley + allspicetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,289 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

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

  5. Allspice + oniontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,270 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Clams
Provide the main seafood flavor and body of the soup.
Potato
Adds starch that thickens the broth slightly and gives the soup body.
Milk
Adds creaminess and softens the flavor of the broth.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the finished soup.
Hard-boiled eggs
Add body and a mild, rich texture to the soup.

The step that matters

Stir in milk and butter before serving, not after boiling. Milk can curdle and scorch if it is kept at a hard boil for long. Adding it near the end and heating gently keeps the soup smooth and creamy.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, onion, sauce, milk, butter, egg, clam):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, onion, sauce, milk, butter, egg, clam. 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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