Name: Mom's Nova Scotia Seafood Chowder
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h 5 min
Yield: 20 servings
Ingredients: 2 large onions, diced; 3 carrots, sliced; 7 potatoes, cubed; 1 pound salmon, cut into chunks; 1 pound cod, cut into chunks; 1 pound scallops; 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined; 6 ounces cooked lobster meat, shredded; 1 (6 ounce) can crabmeat, drained and flaked; 2 (6.5 ounce) cans chopped clams, drained; 4 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream; 2 cups half-and-half; 1 1/2 cups butter, cut into chunks; salt and ground black pepper to taste

Why it works: Onion and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 9,023 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Carrot + potatotop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together3,107 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Scallop + lobstertop 9% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together15 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Shrimp + lobstertop 9% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together403 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, potato, salmon, scallop, shrimp, lobster, meat):

Chivebetter flavor fit
Asparagusbetter flavor fit
Mustardbetter flavor fit
Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, potato, salmon, scallop, shrimp, lobster, meat. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

Mom's Nova Scotia Seafood Chowder