Why it works: Clam and meat work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 36 recipes. Both carry 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine, which smells cocoa, roasted. The science ↓
Clam Fritters Without Egg
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Chop the clams and add their liquor.
In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, pepper, and salt.
Fry
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into hot meat drippings.
Fry until golden brown.
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.
-
Clam + meattop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together36 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
-
Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Pepper + meattop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,777 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Clam + flourtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together576 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Clam + peppertop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together952 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Clams
- Provide the main flavor and texture, with their liquor adding moisture to the batter.
- Flour
- Provides starch that sets during frying, giving the fritters structure without eggs.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the fritters puff and turn light.
- Meat drippings
- Fat for frying that conducts heat and browns the outside of the fritters.
The step that matters
Drop spoonfuls into hot drippings. The fat must be hot enough to set the outside quickly. If it is too cool, the batter soaks up grease and turns heavy; if too hot, the outside burns before the centre cooks.
“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.
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Meat Croquettes52 recipes
Meatballs37 recipes
Mince Meat37 recipes
Meat Cakes35 recipes