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Clams a LA Newburg

A creamy clams dish with butter, sherry, cream, egg yolks, salt, and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Clams a LA Newburg

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Trim the tough parts from the clams, being careful not to cut into the soft portion.

Make the sauce

  1. Melt the butter over boiling water, stirring constantly until creamy.

  2. Add the sherry to the melted butter.

  3. In a separate bowl, beat together the egg yolks and cream, then gradually add to the butter mixture while stirring continuously.

Finish

  1. Once fully mixed, add the clams and cook until they are plump.

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. Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,505 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Clam + sherrytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Clams
Provide the main body and savory flavor of the dish.
Egg yolks
Thicken the cream and butter mixture into a smooth, rich sauce as they set gently with heat.
Cream
Adds richness and body, helping the sauce feel smooth and full.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor through the sauce.
Sherry
Adds acidity and aromatic depth to the sauce.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolk and cream mixture. Egg yolks thicken when heated, but if the mixture gets too hot or is added too quickly, it can scramble. Adding it gradually while stirring constantly keeps the sauce smooth.

“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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