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Clam Bouillon

A broth made from clams, oysters, butter, milk, salt, and pepper, served with oyster crackers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Clam Bouillon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the clams

  1. Wash and scrub the clams, changing the water several times.

  2. Put clams in a kettle with cold water, cover tightly, and steam until shells open.

  3. Strain the liquid, cool, and clear it.

Prepare the oysters

  1. Clean the oysters by rinsing them with cold water in a colander.

  2. Pick over the oysters, reserving the liquor, and heat it to boiling point.

  3. Strain the liquor through cheesecloth, add oysters, and cook until plump and edges curl.

  4. Remove oysters with a skimmer and place in a tureen with butter, salt, and pepper.

  5. Add the strained oyster liquor and milk.

Serve

  1. Serve with oyster crackers.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Clam + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together840 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Clam + oystertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together111 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Clams
Release their liquor during steaming, giving the bouillon its main briny flavour.
Oysters
Add savoury, briny flavour and tender texture when cooked until plump.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the broth.
Milk
Adds creaminess and softens the briny taste of the broth.

The step that matters

Cooking the oysters until plump and edges curl. Oysters turn tough and rubbery when overcooked. Heating them only until the edges curl keeps them tender while the broth stays hot.

“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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