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Clam Fritters

Clam fritters are fried batter-coated clams served hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

Clam Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, combine milk, melted butter, beaten egg, baking soda, flour, and salt to make a batter.

  2. Add the chopped clams and their liquor to the batter and mix until well combined.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat oil in a pan and drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot oil.

  2. Fry until golden brown on both sides.

  3. Remove and drain on paper towels before serving.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Butter + clamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together840 recipes

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

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Flour
Forms the structure of the batter that holds the fritters together.
Egg
Binds the batter and helps hold the fritters together as they cook.
Baking soda
Reacts to lighten the batter so the fritters puff and turn tender.
Milk
Adds moisture to the batter, loosening it to a workable consistency.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, contributing to flavor and browning.
Clams
Provide the main seafood flavor and texture throughout the fritters.

The step that matters

Fry until golden brown on both sides. The batter must be cooked through in hot oil; frying too cool makes fritters greasy and undercooked inside, while frying too hot browns the outside before the center sets.

“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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