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Fish Chowder

A hearty soup of fish, salt pork, onion, potatoes, milk, and butter, finished with a roux and served with crackers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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 ↓

Fish Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Start the base

  1. Fry the salt pork with the chopped onion until brown.

  2. Combine the fried pork and onion with the fish in a kettle.

  3. Cover with boiling water.

  4. Add a little salt.

  5. Cook until the fish is tender.

Finish the chowder

  1. Cook the sliced potatoes until tender.

  2. Add the potatoes to the chowder.

  3. Stir in the rich milk.

  4. Melt the butter.

  5. Stir in the flour.

  6. Gradually add 1 cup of the hot liquid to the butter and flour mixture to make a sauce.

  7. Add the sauce to the chowder.

  8. Season with pepper and salt to taste.

  9. Top with a few crackers before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Pork + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

What each ingredient does

Salt pork
Renders fat and browned bits that add savory depth to the chowder base.
Fish (in the method)
Provides the main protein, which becomes tender as it cooks in the broth.
Potatoes
Add body and starch that thicken the chowder and make it more substantial.
Rich milk
Adds creaminess and richness to the broth.
Butter and flour
Form a roux that thickens the milky liquid into a smooth sauce.

The step that matters

Adding the butter and flour sauce. Flour must be cooked into the melted butter and whisked with hot liquid added gradually. Adding it all at once or cold causes lumps, so the sauce will not blend smoothly into the chowder.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (haddock, pork, potato, milk, butter, flour, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Chivefits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against haddock, pork, potato, milk, butter, flour, 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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