Name: Clam Pie
Ingredients: clams; 3 or 4 medium-sized potatoes; butter

Why it works: Clam and potato work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 80 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-decenal, which smells green, must. The science ↓

Clam Pie

Ingredients

clams
3 or 4 medium-sized potatoes
butter

Directions

Chop large clams and place them in a saucepan.
Cook the clams in their own liquor, adding a little water if necessary.
Boil the potatoes until done, then slice them.
Line a pudding dish halfway up its sides with potato slices.
Turn a small cup upside down in the middle of the dish to support the top crust.
Layer clams and then potatoes in the dish, seasoning with bits of butter.

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.

Clam + potatotop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together80 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).
Clam + buttertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together840 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

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