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Clam Cakes

A batter of eggs, cream, flour, baking soda, and clams fried in pork fat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Clam Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Beat the eggs, then mix in the cream and baking soda.

  2. Gradually add flour until a stiff batter forms.

  3. Fold in the chopped clams.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat pork fat in a frying pan over medium‑high heat.

  2. Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot fat and 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. Clam + porktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together305 recipes

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

  2. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Cream + porktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,093 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

  5. Cream + clamtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 and richness to the cakes.
Flour
Forms the stiff batter that holds the clams together in each cake.
Chopped clams
Provide the main flavor and texture, scattered through the batter.
Baking soda
Reacts to lighten the batter and help the cakes rise slightly.
Cream
Adds moisture and tenderness to the batter.
Pork fat
Conducts heat for frying and browns the outside of the cakes.

The step that matters

Frying the spoonfuls in hot fat. If the fat is not hot enough, the cakes absorb grease and turn soggy rather than forming a crisp, golden crust. Medium-high heat sears the surface quickly, so the batter sets before it spreads or soaks up oil.

“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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