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Clam Stifle

A baked dish of sliced potatoes, clams, onions, salt pork, pepper, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Clam Stifle

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Assemble

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

  2. In a deep pan, layer sliced potatoes, clams, sliced onions, and more sliced potatoes.

  3. Add a few small slices of salt pork and season with pepper.

  4. Pour in a little water and cover with a plate or pan.

Bake

  1. Bake for five hours, adding more water if it dries out too much.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Potato + porktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Clam + porktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together305 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Potato + clamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together80 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).

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 release their juices into the pan as they cook.
Sliced potatoes
Form the bulk of the dish and soak up the cooking liquid, becoming tender and creamy.
Sliced onions
Soften during the long bake, adding sweetness and savory aroma.
Salt pork
Adds fat and salty, savory depth that seasons the potatoes and clams as it renders.

The step that matters

Checking the liquid during the long bake. The covered pan traps steam, but over five hours the liquid can evaporate and the potatoes may scorch or dry out. Adding water keeps the contents moist so the potatoes cook through and the juices stay in the dish.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, clam, pork, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Onionthe original
  3. Tomatofits about as well
  4. Asparagusfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, clam, pork, pepper. 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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