Name: Scalloped Clams
Ingredients: 1 quart large clams, cleaned and chopped; 14 Boston crackers, rolled fine; Butter, for greasing; Pepper, to taste; Butter, for layering; Milk, for wetting top layer

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Scalloped Clams

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Remove the gills from the clams, chop the shoulders finely, and leave the stomachs whole.
Butter a baking dish liberally.

Assemble

Layer the bottom with crushed crackers soaked in clam water.
Add a layer of clams seasoned with pepper and small pieces of butter.
Repeat layers, finishing with a top layer of crackers soaked in milk.

Bake

Bake for 1 hour.

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Clam + buttertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together840 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Clam + milktop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together636 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Pepper + milktop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together26,984 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Clams: Provide the main filling and a briny, savory flavor throughout the dish.
Boston crackers: Soak up liquid and bind the layers, giving the dish a soft, pudding-like body.
Butter: Adds richness and fat, carrying flavor and helping the layers brown lightly.
Milk: Moistens the top cracker layer so it bakes soft rather than dry.

“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.