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Clam Bouillon

A simple broth made by simmering clams in water with salt and pepper, served hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 Bouillon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and cook

  1. Wash the clams thoroughly.

  2. Place clams in a saucepan with cold water and cover tightly to retain steam.

  3. Add salt and pepper to the broth.

Serve

  1. Serve in cups, with or without whipped cream.

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. Pepper + creamtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

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

Pepper and cream 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

Clams
Provide the main flavor and the savory broth as they release their liquor while cooking.
Cold water
Forms the liquid base of the broth and carries the clam flavor.

The step that matters

Cover the saucepan tightly. A tight cover traps steam so the clams open evenly and the broth stays concentrated. Lifting the lid lets steam and flavor escape, which can slow opening and weaken the broth.

“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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