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Clam Chowder

A soup made with salt pork, potatoes, onions, clams, water, butter, milk or cream, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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

  1. Fry the salt pork until crisp.

  2. Chop the onions and potatoes finely.

Make the chowder

  1. Add the water and boil slowly for 45 minutes.

  2. Chop the clams and pork.

  3. Add the chopped clams and pork along with the pork fat and clam juice to the pot.

  4. Boil for another 30 minutes.

  5. Add 4 finely rolled crackers.

Finish

  1. Stir in the butter and milk or cream.

  2. Season with salt and pepper.

  3. Do not boil after adding the milk.

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

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  4. Pork + clamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together305 recipes

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

  5. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Potatoes
Break down slowly during simmering, releasing starch that thickens and gives the chowder body.
Clams
Provide the main seafood flavour, and their juice adds briny depth to the broth.
Salt pork
Its rendered fat carries savoury flavour through the chowder.
Onions
Soften and sweeten as they cook, building a mellow aromatic base.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the finished broth.
Milk or cream
Adds creaminess and a smooth, rounded texture to the soup.

The step that matters

Do not boil after adding the milk. Milk and cream can curdle, separate, or scorch when held at a hard boil. Keeping the heat gentle after adding dairy preserves a smooth, uniform texture.

Swap the onion

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

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

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