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Clam Croquettes

Clam croquettes are small fried cakes made from minced clams, cream, and breadcrumbs.

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

Clam Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Mix minced clams with heavy cream and clam liquor.

  2. Season with salt and pepper.

  3. Let the mixture cool, then shape it into croquettes.

Coat and fry

  1. Dip each croquette in beaten egg, then coat with breadcrumbs.

  2. Fry until golden brown and serve with Bernaise or tartar sauce.

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. Clam + creamtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Clam + peppertop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together952 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  5. Clam + eggtop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together337 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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

Minced clams
Provide the main flavour and bulk of the filling.
Heavy cream
Adds moisture and richness so the filling stays tender rather than dry.
Clam liquor
Adds concentrated clam flavour and moisture to the filling.
Egg
Binds the breaded coating so breadcrumbs adhere before frying.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden browned crust when fried.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool before shaping. A warm, loose filling is soft and sticks to the hands and breading, so croquettes can break or lose shape. Cooling lets the cream thicken the mixture enough to hold its form during dipping and frying.

“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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