Why it works: Clam and butter work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 840 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
20 Stewed Clams
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the clams thoroughly.
Combine clam liquor and water in a stew-pan to nearly cover the clams.
Stew and serve
Cook over gentle heat for 30 minutes, skimming off any scum that rises.
Add butter mixed with flour and pepper, then simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
Serve over toast if desired.
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 + buttertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together840 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + wheattop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,002 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Wheat + peppertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together984 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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
- Sand clams
- Provide the main protein and the savoury flavour of the stew.
- Clam liquor
- Adds concentrated clam flavour and salinity to the stewing liquid.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the finished broth.
- Wheat flour
- Thickens the broth slightly when cooked with the butter.
The step that matters
Skimming off scum during the gentle cook. Scum rising from the clams is coagulated protein and impurities. Removing it keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting rather than cloudy or muddy.
“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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