Why it works: Clam and pork work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 305 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Baked Clams
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Preheat your oven to 300°F (150°C).
Place the clams in a bean pot with the piece of pork.
Cover the pot closely and bake for 2 to 3 hours.
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.
-
Clam + porktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together305 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
- Provide the main protein and the briny liquor that steams and seasons the dish as it bakes.
- Pork
- Adds savory, fatty flavor that seasons the clams and the cooking liquid during the long bake.
The step that matters
Cover the pot closely while baking. A tight lid traps steam so the clams cook gently in their own liquor. Without it, moisture escapes, the surface dries, and the clams can turn tough over the long bake.
“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.
You might also like
Pork Cake107 recipes
Roast Pork82 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.