Name: Clam Entree
Ingredients: 1 pint hard shell clams; 1 cup ground beef (Hamburg steak); ¼ cup melted butter; 1 small clove garlic, grated; 2 eggs; Salt, to taste; Pepper, to taste; Worcestershire sauce, for serving

Why it works: Clam and garlic work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 119 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-methylbutyraldehyde, which smells malty, chocolate. The science ↓

The recipe

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, fish, shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

Chop the clams finely and mix them with the ground beef, melted butter, grated garlic, salt, and pepper.
Beat the eggs lightly and combine them with the clam mixture.

Bake and serve

Fill buttered shells with the mixture.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for a few minutes.
Serve with Worcestershire sauce.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Clam + garlictop 9% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together119 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Beef + peppertop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Clam + buttertop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together840 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Garlic + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together27,044 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Beef + garlictop 7% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together6,150 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Hard shell clams: Provide the main seafood flavour and bulk of the filling.
Ground beef: Adds body and savoury richness to the filling.
Melted butter: Adds fat, moisture and richness to the filling.
Eggs: Bind the filling together so it holds its shape when baked.

Flavor stand-ins for the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clam, beef, butter, egg, pepper, sauce):

Parsleybetter flavor fit
Nutmegabout as good a flavor fit
Celeryabout as good a flavor fit
Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clam, beef, butter, egg, pepper, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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.