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Clam Bisque

A creamy soup made from clams, flour, milk, butter, and red pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 Bisque

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the clams

  1. Scrub the clam shells and pour boiling water over them.

  2. Let them stand in the water until they begin to open, then remove quickly to retain the juice.

  3. Use a small knife to cut the muscles holding the shells together and scrape the clams out.

  4. Remove the clams from the juice and chop them finely.

Make the bisque

  1. Combine the clams and juice with the cold water in a pot and slowly bring to a boil.

  2. Simmer for a few minutes, then skim off any foam.

  3. Mix the flour with a little cold water until smooth, then add to the pot and cook thoroughly.

  4. Pour in the heated milk just before serving to prevent curdling.

  5. Add the butter and a dash of red pepper, and serve hot.

  6. If desired, add the beaten egg after removing from the stove.

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

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

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter 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

Clams
Provide the main flavor and texture of the bisque.
Flour
Thickens the liquid into a smooth, body-rich bisque when cooked through.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mild sweetness to the bisque.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the finished bisque.

The step that matters

Pour in the milk just before serving. Milk proteins can curdle when held at a boil for long or combined with acidic or overheated mixtures, so the milk should be heated separately and added at the end.

“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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