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Clam Croquettes

A fried appetizer of clams mixed with butter, broth, flour, egg yolks, and seasonings, coated in cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Clam Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the clams

  1. Rinse the clams in a clean sieve or colander.

  2. In a saucepan, melt 1 ounce of butter.

  3. Add the clams, white broth, white pepper, and mace to the melted butter.

  4. Strain the mixture and set aside the clam liquor.

Make the filling

  1. In another pan, fry the shallots in 2 ounces of butter until light brown.

  2. Stir in the flour until smooth.

  3. Add 1 pint of clam liquor to the flour mixture.

  4. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

  5. Beat the egg yolks.

  6. Mix in parsley, red pepper, and finely chopped clams.

  7. Stir the mixture and boil for 2 more minutes, stirring constantly.

  8. Remove from heat and squeeze in the lemon juice.

  9. Transfer the mixture to a dish to cool.

  10. Once cool, divide the mixture into 16 pieces.

Coat and fry

  1. Dip each piece in beaten egg.

  2. Roll each piece in cracker crumbs.

  3. Fry in hot oil until golden brown.

  4. Drain on a cloth over a hot dish.

Serve

  1. Arrange the croquettes in a circle on a serving dish.

  2. Garnish with fried parsley and lemon quarters.

  3. 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. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  2. Shallot + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. White pepper + macetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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

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

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour 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

Small clams
Provide the main flavor and the chopped clam body of the croquette filling.
All-purpose flour
Thickens the clam liquor into a stiff base that holds the croquettes' shape.
Egg yolks
Enrich the filling and help bind it as it cooks and sets.
Clam liquor
Adds liquid and concentrated clam flavor to the thickened filling.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, browned outer coating when fried.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich, creamy clam filling.

The step that matters

Cool the filling fully before shaping. Flour thickens the mixture as it cools and sets. If the filling is still warm or too soft, the pieces will not hold their shape and may break apart or leak in the hot oil.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clam, butter, white pepper, shallot, flour, egg, parsley):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clam, butter, white pepper, shallot, flour, egg, parsley. 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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