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Cockles in Cataplana

A Portuguese seafood stew of cockles cooked with tomatoes, onions, peppers, and cured meats in a cataplana.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Cockles in Cataplana

Time30 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cockles

  1. Wash cockles and leave them in cold salted water with cornmeal for half a day.

Make the sauce

  1. In a pan, heat lard and olive oil.

  2. Add onions, garlic, and green peppers.

  3. Cook for 10 minutes.

  4. Add bay leaf, tomatoes, and their juice.

  5. Break up tomatoes.

  6. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook slowly for 30 minutes.

  7. Add tomato sauce, prosciutto, ham, and pepperoni.

  8. Cook for 30 minutes more.

Cook and serve

  1. Spoon half of the tomato mixture into the bottom of a cataplana or a saucepan with a tight-fitting lid.

  2. Bring to a simmer, adjusting heat so that it barely bubbles.

  3. Rinse cockles well and arrange them on top of the sauce.

  4. Spoon remaining tomato sauce over the cockles.

  5. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

  6. Open the pan, add white wine, and scatter cilantro on top.

  7. Cover tightly and return to a simmer.

  8. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes more, or until the cockles open up.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

218Calories
3 gProtein
13 gFat
19 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  5. Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Cockles
Provide the main seafood, releasing briny juices that flavour the sauce as they open.
Tomatoes
Form the acidic, moist base of the sauce that carries the other ingredients.
Onions
Soften and sweeten as they cook, building the savoury base of the sauce.
Lard
Adds fat for cooking the aromatics and carries flavour through the sauce.
Smoked ham
Contributes smoky, salty meatiness that seasons the sauce.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma, helping to steam the cockles open at the end.

The step that matters

Cover tightly and cook until the cockles open. Cockles cook quickly in steam, and overcooking toughens the meat. Keeping the lid tight traps steam so the shells open evenly, and any cockles that stay shut should be discarded.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, garlic, pepper, tomato, sauce, prosciutto, white wine):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Basilfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, garlic, pepper, tomato, sauce, prosciutto, white wine. 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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