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Clam Broth

A broth made from clams, clam juice or hot water, cayenne pepper, oat butter, and boiled milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Drain and finely chop the clams.

Simmer

  1. In a pot, combine the chopped clams, clam juice or hot water, cayenne pepper, and oat butter.

  2. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the boiled milk, strain the mixture, and serve.

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

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

  4. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Pepper + milktop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Clams
Supply the main seafood flavour and body of the broth as they simmer.
Clam juice or hot water
Forms the liquid base that extracts flavour from the chopped clams.
Oat butter
Adds fat that carries flavour and gives the broth a richer mouthfeel.
Boiled milk
Adds creaminess and softens the briny edge of the clam broth.

The step that matters

Simmering the clams for 30 minutes. Prolonged heat toughens clam flesh and can make it rubbery. Keeping the simmer gentle helps the clams stay tender while their flavour passes into the liquid.

“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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