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Clam Chowder

A layered soup of clams, salted pork, onions, crackers, butter, salt, and pepper, simmered in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Clam and pork work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 305 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Clam Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pork

  1. Cut the salted pork into thin slices and fry until crisp.

  2. Cut the fried pork into pieces.

Layer and cook

  1. In a saucepan that holds at least 2 quarts, layer some pork, followed by a layer of clams.

  2. Add a layer of chopped onions, then a layer of crackers.

  3. Season with salt and pepper, and add some butter.

  4. Repeat the layering process until all ingredients are used.

  5. Cover with hot water and stew until well done.

Serve

  1. Serve with bread, butter, and pickles.

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. Clam + porktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together305 recipes

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

  2. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

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

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Clam + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together840 recipes

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

  5. Pork + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,933 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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 the chowder's characteristic texture.
Salted pork
Adds savory fat and flavor that seasons the broth as it cooks.
Onions
Add sweetness and aromatic depth as they soften during stewing.
Crackers
Soak up liquid and thicken the chowder as they break down.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that carries flavor through the stew.

The step that matters

Cover with hot water and stew until well done. Clams turn tough and rubbery if overcooked, while too little stewing leaves the onions and crackers raw and the broth thin. Gentle, steady simmering softens the vegetables and lets the flavors blend.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against clam, pork, 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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