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Bisque of Clams

A creamy soup made from clams, butter, flour, milk, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Bisque of Clams

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the clams

  1. Strain the liquor from the clams and bring it to a boil.

  2. Wash the clams to remove shells and grit.

  3. Scald the clams in their own liquor for 3 minutes, then chop them finely.

  4. Press the clams through a colander or coarse sieve.

Make the soup

  1. In a saucepan, rub the flour and butter together over low heat until blended but not browned.

  2. Gradually stir in the boiling liquor until smooth.

  3. Set the mixture aside to keep hot.

  4. Add all the soft parts to the soup.

  5. Add enough milk or cream to make at least 1 quart of soup.

  6. Thin the soup with more milk if it is too thick.

  7. Season with mace and pepper, being cautious with salt.

  8. Boil the soup for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

  9. Serve with croutons.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Mace + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 body of the soup once pressed and chopped.
Butter
Carries flavor and, blended with flour, forms a roux that thickens the soup.
Flour
Thickens the soup when cooked with butter into a roux and stirred into the liquor.
Milk or cream
Adds creaminess and volume, and its fat gives the bisque a smooth, rich texture.

The step that matters

Cooking the flour and butter roux. Cooking the flour and butter over low heat until blended but not browned lets starch swell evenly for smooth thickening. Browning adds a darker color and a toasted flavor that changes the bisque's character.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clam, butter, flour, milk, pepper):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Cinnamonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clam, butter, flour, milk, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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