Why it works: Onion and potato 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 ↓
A Fish Chowder Recipe From the Navy
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the base
Cut the fat salt pork into slices and fry until well cooked.
Slice the onions and fry them in the pork fat until light brown, stirring constantly.
Transfer the pork and onions to a pot with boiling water and let it boil for 20 minutes.
Skim out the pieces of pork and onion, then add the sliced potatoes and boil for another 20 minutes.
Add the fish and thicken
Add the shredded fish and boil for 10 minutes, or until the fish is cooked.
Season with pepper and coarse sea salt to taste.
Slowly stir in a thickening made of farina mixed with cold milk, and let it boil once.
Remove from heat, let it stand for a few moments, skim off any scum, and 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.
-
Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Pork + potatotop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,668 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
-
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
-
Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 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
- Fat salt pork
- Renders fat that browns the onions and adds savory, smoky flavor to the broth.
- Onions
- Soften and turn sweet when fried, adding depth and body to the chowder.
- Potatoes
- Release starch as they boil, giving the chowder body and substance.
- Solid fish
- Provides the main protein, flaking into tender pieces as it cooks.
- Farina
- Thickens the broth into a smooth, lightly creamy consistency when stirred in.
The step that matters
Stirring in the farina and milk slurry. Starch must be mixed with cold milk first and added slowly to hot liquid while stirring, or it clumps. Boiling it once fully gelatinises the starch for a smooth, even thickness.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, potato, fish, pepper, milk):
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, potato, fish, pepper, milk. 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.
More fish chowder recipes
You might also like
Potato Croquettes255 recipes
Fried Fish120 recipes
Pork Cake107 recipes
Roast Pork82 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.