Why it works: Clam and milk work together. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 636 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Clam Broth
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the broth
Wash the clams thoroughly in cold water.
Place the clams in a stewpan and add the cold water.
Boil quickly for 5 minutes, then drain the juice and strain it through cheesecloth.
Finish and serve
Transfer the strained juice to a clean saucepan and add the milk.
Heat just to the boiling point and serve immediately in a bouillon cup with unsweetened wafers.
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.
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Clam + milktop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together636 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
- Clams
- Release their juice, which becomes the flavour base of the broth.
- Milk
- Adds richness and a mild sweetness that softens the briny clam flavour.
The step that matters
Heat just to the boiling point. Milk that boils hard can scorch on the pan base and may separate, so heat only until bubbles first form and serve at once.
“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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