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 ↓
Corn Chowder
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Put 1 can corn, 2 cups water, 3 potatoes, and 2 onions, pared and sliced, into a kettle.
Cook slowly until the potatoes and onions are done.
Finish and serve
Add 1 pint milk, a piece of butter as large as an egg, salt and pepper to taste.
Serve hot with crackers added at the last moment.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Potato | 1 medium (173g) baked | 161 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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.
-
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
-
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 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
- Potatoes
- Break down as they cook, releasing starch that thickens and gives the chowder body.
- Onions
- Soften and turn sweet as they cook, building the chowder's base flavour.
- Corn (in the method)
- Adds natural sweetness and tender kernels to the chowder.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and a mild, rich flavour to the broth.
- Butter
- Adds fat that enriches the texture and rounds out the flavour.
The step that matters
Cook slowly until the potatoes and onions are done. Slow cooking softens the potatoes and onions evenly and lets their starch release gradually, which thickens the broth. Boiling hard can break the potatoes down unevenly and leave the soup gluey or thin.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, egg, potato, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Chivefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, egg, potato, pepper. 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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