Why it works: Potato and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,668 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓
Fish Chowder
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the layers
Fry the salt pork in a deep kettle until brown, but not burned.
Layer the fish over the pork.
Add a layer of potatoes dredged with flour, pepper, and salt.
Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used.
Pour hot water over the layers, not quite covering them.
Cook and finish
Boil until the potatoes are tender.
In another saucepan, heat the milk.
Once the potatoes are tender, add the milk, butter, and soaked crackers to the chowder.
Boil once.
Serve.
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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Potato + porktop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,668 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Fish + porktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together668 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish
- Provides the main body and flaky texture of the chowder.
- Potatoes
- Thicken the broth as they cook and give the chowder its body.
- Salt pork
- Renders fat and browned flavor into the kettle that seasons the whole chowder.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and mild sweetness to the finished broth.
- Boston crackers
- Soak up liquid and help thicken the chowder.
The step that matters
Adding the milk after the potatoes are tender. Milk can scorch or curdle if it boils hard for long. Heating it separately and adding it at the end, then boiling only once, keeps it smooth and prevents it from scorching on the bottom of the kettle.
“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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