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 ↓
Clam Chowder
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the clams
Wash the clams until clean.
Put the clams in a kettle with 1 quart of cold water and cook until the top ones open.
Remove the clams from the stove.
Skim out the clams from the liquid.
Pour the liquid into a dish to settle.
When the clams are cool, cut off the heads with scissors.
Make the chowder
Fry the onion in the salt pork in the kettle until brown.
Remove the onion and pork from the kettle.
Add the potatoes and clam liquor to the kettle.
Pour carefully to avoid disturbing the settlings.
When the potatoes are soft, add the clams.
Add the seasonings (salt and pepper to taste).
Add the hot milk.
Add more water if desired.
Thicken and serve
Melt the butter.
Stir in the flour.
Add the butter and flour mixture to the chowder or to the hot milk before adding to the chowder.
Put the crackers in the tureen.
Pour the chowder over the crackers.
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.
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Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + porktop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,668 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Clam + porktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together305 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 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
- Clams
- Provide the main flavour and texture of the chowder, releasing their briny liquor into the broth.
- Potatoes
- Soften during cooking and thicken the chowder body while adding bulk.
- Salt pork
- Renders fat that carries flavour into the kettle and seasons the base.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, and with flour forms a roux that thickens the milk.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and milk mixture so the chowder becomes creamy rather than watery.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and a mild sweetness that softens the broth's saltiness.
The step that matters
Add the butter and flour mixture to the hot milk. Flour lumps form if it is added raw or too hot without being blended with fat first. Cooking butter and flour into a smooth roux, then whisking it into warm liquid, gives an even, lump-free thickening.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clam, potato, pork, pepper, butter, flour, milk):
- Capsicumfits better
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Onionthe original
- Chivefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against clam, potato, pork, pepper, butter, flour, milk. 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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