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Clam Chowder— No. 1

A creamy soup made with clams, onions, potatoes, milk, butter, salt, and pepper.

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

Clam Chowder— No. 1

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clean and chop the clams.

Make the chowder

  1. In a pot, combine clams, onion, potatoes, and water.

  2. Simmer until potatoes are tender.

  3. Add milk and butter, stirring well.

  4. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve

  1. Serve hot.

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

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

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

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

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

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

  5. Clam + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together80 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Clams
Provide the main seafood flavor and substance of the chowder.
Potatoes
Soften during simmering and thicken the broth with their starch.
Milk
Adds creaminess and a smooth, rich body to the broth.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a silky mouthfeel to the finished chowder.

The step that matters

Add milk and butter after potatoes are tender. Boiling milk after adding it can curdle or scorch it, so it should be stirred in gently once the potatoes are soft and the heat is reduced.

Swap the onion

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

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

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