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Philadelphia Clam Soup

A creamy soup of clams, potatoes, and butter, seasoned with parsley, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Philadelphia Clam Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Drain the chopped clams in a colander.

  2. Rub the butter and flour together until creamy.

Make the soup

  1. Boil the chopped potatoes in the milk in a double boiler.

  2. After boiling the potatoes for 15 minutes, stir in the butter and flour mixture and cook for 8 more minutes.

  3. Add the parsley, salt, and pepper, and cook for an additional 3 minutes.

  4. Finally, add the clams and cook for 1 more minute 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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Parsley + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

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

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

  5. Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Milk
Forms the liquid base of the soup and carries the potato flavour.
Potatoes
Soften as they boil, adding body and thickening the soup slightly.
Flour
Thickens the soup as it cooks with the butter, giving it a creamy body.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, smoothing the flour into the soup and carrying flavour.
Clams
Provide the main seafood flavour and tender texture when briefly cooked.

The step that matters

Adding the butter and flour mixture. Flour must be cooked in the hot liquid for several minutes to lose its raw taste and to thicken fully. Stirring it in smoothly, without lumps, keeps the soup evenly creamy.

“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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