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Clam Bouillon

A broth made from clams and oysters, simmered with water, butter, pepper, salt, and topped with whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Clam Bouillon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the broth

  1. Chop the clams and oysters into medium pieces.

  2. Combine the chopped clams, oysters, and their liquor in a pot.

  3. Add 1½ cups of water and bring to a boil.

  4. Simmer for 10 minutes, then strain through cheesecloth.

Season and serve

  1. Return the strained broth to the pot, add butter, pepper, and salt.

  2. Whip the cream and place a tablespoonful on top of the broth in each bouillon cup.

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

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

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

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

  3. Clam + oystertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together111 recipes

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

  4. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  5. Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,103 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Clams
Release their liquor and savoury flavour into the broth as they cook.
Oysters
Add briny, savoury flavour and body to the broth along with the clams.
Butter
Adds richness and a rounded mouthfeel to the finished broth.
Cream
Whipped, it forms a soft, light topping that cools and mellows each serving.

The step that matters

Straining the broth through cheesecloth. Straining removes shell fragments and sand released during simmering, leaving a clear broth. Skipping or rushing it leaves grit in the cups.

“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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