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Clam Fritters

A batter of eggs, milk, flour, and seasonings with chopped clams, fried until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and flour 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 Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Beat the eggs until light.

  2. Mix in salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

  3. Add the milk and stir until combined.

  4. Gradually add flour until the batter is light and can drop from a spoon.

Fry

  1. Take a spoonful of batter, add 2-3 pieces of chopped clam, and fry in deep hot fat.

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. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  5. Milk + clamtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together636 recipes

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

Milk and flour 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

Eggs
Beaten eggs add structure and lightness to the batter.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to produce gas that makes the fritters rise.
Cream of tartar
Acts as an acid that reacts with baking soda, helping the fritters puff and lighten.
Milk
Provides moisture that hydrates the flour and forms a pourable batter.
Flour
Forms the gluten and starch structure that sets the fritters as they fry.
Chopped clams
Supply the main flavor and chewy texture inside each fritter.

The step that matters

Frying in deep hot fat. If the fat is not hot enough, the batter absorbs oil and turns greasy and heavy instead of crisping and puffing. Hot fat sets the outside quickly while the leavening expands the inside.

“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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