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Soup

A soup of codfish, clam broth, clams, halibut, boiled ham, potatoes, onions, cucumbers, stewed plums, peaches, served with bread, butter, milk, sugar, and huckleberry pie.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Plum and peach match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 163 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup

  1. Combine codfish and clam broth in a large pot.

  2. Bring the mixture to a simmer.

  3. Add clams and halibut to the pot.

  4. Cook until the fish is tender.

  5. Serve the soup with boiled ham on the side.

Prepare the sides

  1. Prepare mashed potatoes separately.

  2. Prepare creamed potatoes separately.

  3. Boil onions until soft.

  4. Slice cucumbers.

  5. Serve sliced cucumbers fresh.

Serve the meal

  1. Serve stewed plums and peaches as dessert.

  2. Accompany the meal with bread, butter, milk, and sugar.

  3. Finish the meal with huckleberry pie.

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. Plum + peachtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together163 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

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

  3. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  4. Onion + cucumbertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,050 recipes

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

  5. Potato + cucumbertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together481 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

Codfish
Provides the main flaky white fish body of the soup.
Clam broth
Supplies the liquid base and a savory seafood flavor for the soup.
Clams
Add briny seafood flavor and chewy texture to the soup.
Halibut
Adds firm, meaty pieces of fish that hold their shape during simmering.
Mashed potatoes
Add starchy body and soft texture to the accompanying side.
Creamed potatoes
Contribute starch and richness from the cream, giving a smooth, thick texture.

The step that matters

Cook until the fish is tender. Fish proteins set and toughen quickly when overcooked, becoming dry and rubbery. Stop heating once the flesh flakes easily so the pieces stay moist and tender.

Swap the peach

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clam, ham, potato, onion, cucumber, plum, bread):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Cherryfits better
  3. Applefits better
  4. Peachthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clam, ham, potato, onion, cucumber, plum, bread. 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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