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Fish Chowder

A creamy haddock chowder with potatoes, onions, milk, butter, and spices, served with optional toasted crackers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fish Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Scald the haddock.

  2. Remove the skin.

  3. Boil the haddock in enough water to cover for 15 minutes.

  4. Once cool, remove the bones.

Make the chowder

  1. Place the fish with the cooking water in a double kettle.

  2. Add the milk, butter, black pepper, red pepper, salt, sliced potatoes, and chopped onion.

  3. Cook for 1 hour.

  4. Stir in the cream just before serving.

Serve

  1. Serve with toasted crackers in the soup plates if desired.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Haddock + creamtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together181 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Haddock
Provides the main protein and flaky texture of the chowder.
Potatoes
Their starch thickens the broth and gives it body.
Milk
Forms the creamy liquid base of the chowder.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a rounded flavor.
Onion
Softens during cooking and adds a mild, sweet aroma.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, velvety mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Stir in the cream just before serving. Milk and cream can scorch, separate, or turn grainy when held at high heat for a long time. Adding the cream at the end keeps it smooth and rich rather than thinned or broken by the hour-long cook.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (haddock, milk, egg, butter, pepper, potato, cream):

  1. Chivefits about as well
  2. Spinachfits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against haddock, milk, egg, butter, pepper, potato, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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