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Clam and Oyster Broth

A broth made from clams or oysters, water, celery seed, mace, salt, and served with optional cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,769 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Clam and Oyster Broth

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Chop the carefully washed clams or oysters and place them in a pot.

  2. Add the liquor from the clams or oysters and the cold water.

  3. Bring the mixture slowly to a boil.

  4. Strain the broth.

  5. Add salt if necessary.

  6. Add cream just before serving if desired.

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. Celery + macetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Mace + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,009 recipes
  3. Celery + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,863 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  4. Clam + celerytop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together152 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  5. Clam + creamtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Clams or oysters
Provide the main flavor and the savory, briny character of the broth.
Cold water
Extracts flavor from the shellfish as it heats slowly and forms the broth base.

The step that matters

Bring the mixture slowly to a boil. Heating gently lets flavor draw out of the shellfish gradually; heating too fast can toughen the shellfish and leave the broth cloudier and less delicate.

Swap the mace

The recipe marks mace as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clam, celery, cream):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Pepperfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clam, celery, cream. 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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