Name: Jack Daniel's Crab and Corn Chowder
Ingredients: 4 1/2 tbl flour; 1/2 cup chopped celery; 1/2 cup chopped onion; 3 tbl butter; 1 cup diced red potatoes; 2/3 cup fresh corn; 1/2 tbl crab base; (or 1 chicken boullion cube); 1 1/2 cup water; 1 cup cream; 3/4 cup Dungeness crab meat; 1 pch thyme; 1 pch salt; 1 pch freshly-ground black pepper; 1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning; 1 tbl minced fresh parsley; 2 tbl Jack Daniels whiskey

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 ↓

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 pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + corntop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together938 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Celery + potatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,047 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Potato + chickentop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,756 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour: Thickens the butter and vegetable base into a roux that gives the chowder body.
Butter: Carries the flavor of the sweated vegetables and adds richness.
Cream: Adds richness and a smooth, velvety texture to the chowder.
Dungeness crab meat: Provides the main seafood flavor and sweet, delicate texture.
Red potatoes: Add body and substance, becoming tender in the hot broth.

The step that matters

Bringing the cream to 180 degrees. Cream can curdle or scorch if it boils hard, so heating it gently to the stated temperature keeps it smooth and prevents it from separating.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, onion, butter, potato, corn, crab, chicken):

Garlicfits better
Capersfits about as well
Parsleyfits about as well
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, onion, butter, potato, corn, crab, chicken. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Shrimp	100g cooked	99
Corn	1/2 cup kernels (82g)	77
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0
Meat	not in our table	0
Whiskey	not in our table	0

Jack Daniel's Crab and Corn Chowder