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Clam Fritters

A batter of flour, eggs, milk, and clams fried into golden fritters.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder together.

  2. Beat the egg and mix in the milk.

  3. Combine the egg mixture with the dry ingredients.

  4. Stir in the melted butter and chopped clams.

Fry

  1. Drop tablespoonfuls of the batter into hot oil and cook until golden brown.

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 + clamtop 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

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the batter together as it fries.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the fritters rise and turn light.
Egg
Binds the batter and helps set the fritters as they cook.
Milk
Hydrates the flour and loosens the batter to a drop-able consistency.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, contributing to flavor and golden browning.
Clams
Main flavor ingredient, adding savory seafood taste and chewy texture.

The step that matters

Frying the batter drops in hot oil. If the oil is not hot enough, the fritters absorb excess oil and turn greasy and dense before the outside sets. Hot oil sets the crust quickly, so the inside cooks through while the outside browns.

“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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