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Baked Clams

Clams baked with butter, onion juice, paprika or cayenne, sea salt, lemon, and tomato ketchup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,633 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Baked Clams

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the clams

  1. Open the clams at the head.

  2. Reserve all the juice in the shells.

  3. Leave the clams in the lower shells.

Season and bake

  1. Add a bit of butter to each clam.

  2. Add a drop of onion juice to each clam.

  3. Sprinkle paprika or cayenne to each clam.

  4. Dust a coarse sea salt to each clam.

  5. Replace the top shell.

  6. Tie the top shell on with a bit of cotton string.

  7. Arrange the shells on a hot pan.

  8. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, depending on the size of the clams.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove the top shells.

  2. Squeeze a few drops of lemon on each clam.

  3. Squeeze a few drops of tomato ketchup on each clam.

  4. Serve on the shells.

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. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Lemon + tomatotop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

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

  4. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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 of the dish, cooking gently in their own juice inside the shell.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour and keeping the clam moist as it bakes.
Onion juice
Adds a savoury, aromatic note that complements the clam's briny flavour.
Lemon
Adds acidity that brightens the rich, briny flavour of the baked clam.
Tomato ketchup
Adds sweetness and acidity, giving a tangy finish to the clam.

The step that matters

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, depending on the size of the clams.. Clams toughen quickly when overcooked. Heat should be just enough to open and warm them, so checking size and timing closely keeps the flesh tender and juicy.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clam, butter, onion, tomato, ketchup):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Lemonthe original
  3. Limefits less well
  4. Grapefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against clam, butter, onion, tomato, ketchup. 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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