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Clam Chowder

A hearty soup of potatoes, clams, pork, onions, tomatoes, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 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 pork and onions in a large pot.

  2. Cook the potatoes for thickening in the water and juice for 2 hours.

Make the chowder

  1. Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, catsup, Worcestershire sauce, clams, onions, pork, and diced potatoes.

  2. Let it boil slowly until the potatoes are cooked.

  3. Add the pilot crackers before serving.

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. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 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
Diced potatoes cook through and the thickening potatoes give the broth body.
Clams
Provide the main seafood flavor and chewy texture in the chowder.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and body to the broth, balancing the richness of the pork.
Pork
Adds savory fat and depth of flavor when fried with the onions.
Onions
Add sweetness and aroma once softened and browned in the fat.
Pilot crackers
Absorb liquid and add thickness and a toasted, savory bite.

The step that matters

Let it boil slowly until the potatoes are cooked. Boiling too hard can break down the potatoes and cloud the broth, while too gentle a heat leaves them firm. A slow simmer cooks them evenly and keeps the chowder smooth.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, clam, tomato, pork, pepper, sauce. 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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