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Clam Broth

A clear broth made from clam juice, water, spices, celery, and white pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Clam Broth

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a tin-lined pot, combine clam juice and cold water.

  2. Add allspices, cloves, bay leaf, celery stalk, and white pepper.

  3. Boil gently but continuously, skimming off any scum that rises.

  4. Strain the broth and serve.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,422 recipes

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

  3. Clove + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  4. Allspice + white peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together272 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Celery + white peppertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together853 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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

What each ingredient does

Clam juice
Provides the main briny seafood flavor of the broth.
Cold water
Dilutes the clam juice to a lighter, drinkable broth strength.
Whole allspices
Adds warm, aromatic spice notes to the broth.
Whole cloves
Contributes a strong, warm aroma that gives depth to the broth.
Bay leaf
Adds a subtle herbal aroma that rounds out the flavor.
Celery
Adds a fresh, vegetal aroma that complements the clam flavor.

The step that matters

Boil gently and skim the scum. Keeping the broth at a gentle boil and skimming the foam that rises removes coagulated proteins and impurities. This keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting instead of cloudy and muddy.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clam, allspice, clove, celery):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clam, allspice, clove, celery. 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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