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Clam Broth

A savory broth made from clams, milk, butter, arrow-root, and seasonings, served with whipped cream.

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 Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the clam broth

  1. Strain the liquor from the clams, yielding about 1 quart.

  2. Heat the liquor to a boil.

  3. Skim off the scum.

  4. Add the clams.

  5. Cook for 15 minutes.

  6. Strain again through coarse muslin back into the saucepan.

  7. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt.

Thicken and serve

  1. Heat the milk in a separate saucepan.

  2. Stir in the butter rolled in Bermuda arrow-root.

  3. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring steadily.

  4. Pour the milk mixture into a tureen.

  5. Add the clam soup on top.

  6. Serve with a teaspoon of whipped cream on each portion.

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 + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  4. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Clam + milktop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together636 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

What each ingredient does

Clams
Release their liquor to flavour the broth, and provide the main seafood taste.
Rich milk
Adds body and creaminess, softening the briny flavour of the clam liquor.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the thickened milk.
Bermuda arrow-root
Starch that thickens the milk when heated, giving the soup body.

The step that matters

Boil the milk mixture for 2 minutes while stirring steadily. Arrow-root starch thickens only when heated, and it can clump or scorch on the base of the pan if not stirred. Constant stirring keeps it smooth and evenly thickened.

“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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