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Clam Cakes

A fried batter of clams, flour, milk, and egg served hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Clam Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Remove the shells from the clams and chop them finely.

  2. In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper.

  3. In another bowl, whisk together milk and egg.

  4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients, then fold in the chopped clams.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat.

  2. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot oil and fry until golden brown on both sides.

  3. Drain on paper towels before serving.

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. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Clam + milktop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together636 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  5. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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 bulk of the cakes.
Flour
Forms the structure of the batter so the cakes hold together when fried.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets in the hot oil.
Baking powder
Releases gas during cooking, helping the cakes rise and turn lighter.
Milk
Adds moisture and loosens the batter to a spoonable consistency.

The step that matters

Frying the spoonfuls in hot oil. The oil must be hot enough to brown the outside quickly. If it is too cool, the cakes absorb excess oil and turn greasy before they set. Frying until golden on both sides also ensures the centers cook through.

“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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