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Clam Chowder

A creamy soup made with potatoes, bacon, clams, milk, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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 and cook the base

  1. Cut the potatoes, onion, and bacon into small pieces.

  2. Cook the potatoes, onion, and bacon covered with water until tender.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the milk, clams, bay leaf, allspice, and salt.

  2. Let simmer for about 15 minutes and serve.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

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

  3. Potato + clamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together80 recipes

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

  4. Onion + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,270 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Potato + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together298 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Break down slightly as they cook, giving the chowder body and a thicker texture.
Bacon
Renders fat that carries flavor and adds a savory, smoky richness.
Onion
Softens as it cooks, adding sweetness and a savory aroma to the base.
Clams
Provide the main seafood flavor and a tender, chewy texture.
Skim milk
Forms the creamy liquid that gives the chowder its smooth, mild body.

The step that matters

Simmer gently after adding the milk. Milk can scorch on the bottom of the pot or curdle and separate if it boils hard. A gentle simmer heats it through evenly and keeps the chowder smooth.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, potato, onion, clam):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, potato, onion, clam. 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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