Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Clam Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Chop the clams finely, leaving out the juice.
In a bowl, mix the beaten eggs, sour cream (or buttermilk and melted butter), flour, and baking soda.
Fry and serve
Heat butter in a frying pan over medium heat.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot butter and fry until golden brown.
Remove from the pan and spread with more butter before serving hot.
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.
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Clam + buttertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together840 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Flour and butter 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as the fritters set.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture, tang and tenderness to the batter.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the clams together.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the sour cream or buttermilk to lift the batter.
- Clams
- Supply the main savory flavor and chewy texture.
The step that matters
Drop spoonfuls into hot butter. If the butter is not hot enough, the batter absorbs fat and turns greasy instead of forming a crisp golden crust. Medium heat browns the outside while the centre cooks through.
“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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