Why it works: Clam and cream work together. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 245 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓
Creamed Clams
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the clams
Steam the clams until wide open, then drain and reserve the liquor.
Chop the clams finely.
Keep the chopped clams in a vessel over boiling water.
Make the sauce
In a separate pan, combine the white roux with the heated clam liquor.
Stir the mixture until smooth over heat.
Season the sauce with salt and cayenne or paprika.
Heat the cream or milk with a pinch of baking soda in another vessel.
Pour the heated cream or milk over the beaten egg.
Cook the mixture for two minutes while stirring.
Combine the chopped clams with the thickened liquor.
Quickly mix in the hot cream and egg.
Serve
Serve the mixture over buttered toast on a hot platter.
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.
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Clam + creamtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Clam + eggtop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together337 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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 body of the creamed mixture.
- White roux
- Thickens the clam liquor into a smooth, stable sauce.
- Cream or rich milk
- Adds moisture and richness, giving the sauce a silky texture.
- Beaten egg
- Enriches and thickens the sauce when gently cooked with the hot liquid.
- Baking soda
- Raises the pH of the cream, which helps it stay smooth when heated.
The step that matters
Quickly mix in the hot cream and egg. Egg proteins set when heated, so adding the egg mixture to a hot sauce too slowly or at too high a heat can scramble it. Mixing quickly and keeping the sauce hot but not boiling keeps it smooth.
“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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