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Clam Soup

A soup made from mutton bone broth, clam liquor, clams, onion, parsley, mace, milk, butter, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Clam Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the broth

  1. Crack the mutton bone.

  2. Place the cracked bone in a pot with 1 quart of cold water at the back of the stove.

  3. When a little more than 1 cup of liquid remains, strain it into a bowl.

  4. Cool the strained liquid in the bowl. Once cool, remove the fat.

  5. Add 1 quart of clam liquor and the hard parts of 50 clams to the pot.

  6. Season with 1 teaspoon minced onion, 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, a pinch of mace, and salt and pepper to taste.

  7. Cook covered for 30 minutes after boiling.

Make the milk thickening

  1. In another pot, heat 2 cups of milk.

  2. When hot, stir in 2 tablespoons of butter mixed with 1 heaping tablespoon of flour.

  3. Boil the mixture for 2 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Strain the soup back into the pot.

  2. Add the soft parts of the clams.

  3. Simmer for 5 minutes.

  4. Pour the thickened milk into a tureen.

  5. Stir in the soup.

  6. Serve.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

  3. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton bone
Gives the broth its base flavour and body as it simmers.
Clams
Supply the main seafood flavour, with hard parts in the broth and soft parts added later.
Milk
Forms the creamy body of the soup when combined with the thickening.
Butter and flour
Form a roux that thickens the milk so it becomes smooth and creamy.

The step that matters

Boiling the butter and flour into the milk. Flour must be cooked in the hot fat and milk for a few minutes to thicken smoothly and lose its raw starchy taste. Stirring well while it heats prevents lumps.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, clam, onion, parsley, pepper, milk, butter):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, clam, onion, parsley, pepper, milk, butter. 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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