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Clam Fritters

Clam fritters are fried batter-coated clams served as a savory snack.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Wheat and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Clam Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Remove clams from their shells; if large, cut each in half.

  2. In a bowl, combine flour, eggs, milk, and clam liquor.

  3. Beat the batter until smooth and free of lumps.

  4. Stir in the clams.

Fry

  1. Heat lard in a frying pan and drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot lard.

  2. Fry until golden brown on both sides.

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. Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

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

  2. Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

Flour and milk 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

Wheat flour
Forms the batter's structure once it is mixed and cooked.
Eggs
Bind the batter and help it set as it cooks.
Sweet milk
Thins the batter and adds moisture to the fritters.
Clam liquor
Adds clam flavor and moisture to the batter.
Sand clams
Provide the main flavor and texture of the fritters.

The step that matters

Drop spoonfuls into hot lard. If the lard is not hot enough, the batter absorbs fat and turns greasy instead of forming a crisp, golden crust. Hot fat sets the outside quickly so the fritter holds its shape.

“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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