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Clam Pie

A baked dish of clams and potatoes in pie crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Clam Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Cut large clams in half.

  2. Boil clams in their own liquor, adding a little water if necessary.

  3. Cut boiled potatoes into small pieces.

Assemble the pie

  1. Line sides of a baking dish with pie crust.

  2. Layer clams and potatoes alternately, seasoning with salt, pepper, butter, and a light sprinkling of flour.

  3. Place an inverted teacup in the center of the dish, pushing mixture aside.

  4. Pour clam liquor over layers and add water if it seems dry.

Bake

  1. Cover with pie crust, make incisions for steam to escape, and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

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. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  2. Clam + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together80 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

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

Clams
Provide the main flavour and the seafood filling, with their liquor adding savoury moisture.
Potatoes
Add body and starch to the filling, helping it hold together and absorb cooking liquid.
Flour
A light sprinkling thickens the clam liquor as the pie bakes.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour through the filling.
Pie crust
Encloses the filling, holding in steam and moisture while the pie bakes.

The step that matters

Bake with steam vents cut in the top crust. Vents let steam escape so the top crust cooks and browns rather than turning soggy or bursting, while the filling heats through.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Potatothe original
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Chivefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against clam, pepper, butter, flour. 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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