Why it works: Pork and clam match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 305 recipes mention both. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: wheat, shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare the base
Cut one half pound of salt pork into slices and fry until brown.
Chop two small onions and cook them with the pork.
Stew separately a quart of tomatoes and a quart of sliced potatoes.
Make the chowder
When all are done, combine with one quart of clams and their juice.
Add three pints of water, salt, pepper, a little thyme, a very little flour for thickening, and a handful of small whole crackers.
Stew all together for half an hour.
Serve very hot.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Pork + clamtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together305 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Pork + potatotop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,667 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Potato + oniontop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together9,019 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + thymetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together11,585 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Tomato + potatotop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,797 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
- Salt pork
- Renders fat that flavours the base and browns the onions and pork.
- Clams
- Provide the main seafood flavour and texture, along with their juice.
- Potatoes
- Soften during stewing to thicken the chowder and add body.
- Tomatoes
- Add acidity and sweetness that balance the rich pork fat.
- Crackers
- Absorb liquid and soften, thickening the chowder further.
- Onions
- Add sweetness and aroma as they cook with the pork fat.
The step that matters
Stew all together for half an hour. Simmering gently lets the potatoes and crackers soften and thicken the broth, while overcooking can toughen the clams and make them rubbery.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, clam, tomato, potato, pepper, thyme):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Carrotabout as good a flavor fit
- Onionthe original
- Asparagusabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, clam, tomato, potato, pepper, thyme. 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).
“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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