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Clam Chowder

A creamy soup of potatoes, onions, clams, and tomatoes simmered with butter and flour.

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 the base

  1. Combine sliced potatoes, onion, boiling water, and fried salt pork in a pot.

  2. Boil gently until vegetables are tender.

Add tomatoes and clam juice

  1. Add stewed tomatoes and bring to a boil.

  2. Stir in strained clam juice.

  3. Skim the surface after boiling.

Thicken and add clams

  1. Blend butter with flour, then stir mixture into chowder.

  2. Boil for a few minutes.

  3. Add finely chopped clams.

  4. Bring chowder quickly to a boil.

  5. Remove from heat immediately.

Serve

  1. Pour into a hot tureen.

  2. Keep warm in oven until ready to 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. Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

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

  3. Potato + porktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

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

Potatoes
Break down partly as they cook, adding body and a light starchy texture to the broth.
Clams
Provide the main seafood flavor and a tender, chewy texture when not overcooked.
Butter and flour
Form a roux that thickens the chowder and adds richness.
Stewed tomatoes
Add acidity, color, and a brighter flavor to the broth.
Onion
Builds savory sweetness and aromatic depth as it softens in the broth.

The step that matters

Add the clams late and stop the boil quickly. Clams toughen and turn rubbery when held at a rolling boil for long, so they should be added near the end and the chowder removed from heat promptly.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, onion, pork, clam, butter, flour. 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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