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Clam Bboth

A clam broth seasoned with butter and pepper, served with whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Clam Bboth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the clams

  1. Wash the clams with a brush.

  2. Place clams in a saucepan with 2 tablespoons of hot water.

  3. Cover and cook until the shells open.

Make the broth

  1. Remove clams from the shells and strain the broth.

  2. Boil the clams and broth for 20 minutes.

  3. Strain again and let settle, then strain through a cloth.

Season and serve

  1. Season with butter and pepper, and serve in cups topped with whipped cream.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Clam + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together840 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Pepper + creamtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Pepper and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Clams
Provide the main savoury flavour and the liquor that becomes the broth.
Whipped cream
Adds richness and a soft, cooling contrast to the hot broth.
Butter
Adds fat and a rounded, mellow richness to the finished broth.

The step that matters

Boil the clams and broth for 20 minutes. Prolonged boiling can toughen the clams and make the broth taste harsh or strong. Keep the heat controlled so the broth simmers gently and stays clear and well flavoured.

“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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