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Fish Chowder

A stew of fish, potatoes, onions, and salt pork simmered in milk and crackers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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

  1. Cut the fish, potatoes, and onion into slices.

  2. Dice the salt pork into ½ inch pieces.

  3. In a pan, fry the pork and onion until light brown.

Cook the chowder

  1. In a large saucepan, layer the ingredients: potatoes, fish, pork, and onions, seasoning with salt and pepper between layers.

  2. Cover with boiling water and simmer for 20 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Scald the milk, remove from heat, and stir in the butter and broken crackers.

  2. Arrange the fish mixture on a dish, cover with softened crackers, and pour the hot milk over the top.

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. Potato + porktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  5. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Fish
Forms the main body of the chowder and becomes tender as it simmers in the broth.
Potatoes
Thicken the broth slightly as their starch releases during simmering, and add body.
Salt pork
Adds savory fat and flavor that carries through the whole chowder.
Milk
Makes the finishing liquid creamy and mellow, adding richness to the chowder.
Crackers
Soak up the hot milk and butter, adding body and a soft texture to the topping.

The step that matters

Scalding the milk. Milk should be heated just to near boiling and removed from heat, since overheating can scorch it and cause a skin to form. Holding it at a gentle heat keeps it smooth for stirring into the crackers.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, potato, milk, pork, pepper, butter):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, potato, milk, pork, pepper, butter. 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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