Name: Clam Chowder
Ingredients: 2 quarts fresh little neck clams; 3 slices pork, chopped fine; 3 quarts potatoes, sliced; 1 pint onions, chopped very fine; cayenne pepper to taste

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

2 quarts fresh little neck clams
3 slices pork, chopped fine
3 quarts potatoes, sliced
1 pint onions, chopped very fine
cayenne pepper to taste

Directions

Prepare the clams

Cover the clams and their juice with boiling water and let stand for 2 minutes.
Remove the clams from the juice and chop them fine.

Make the chowder

Fry the chopped pork in a kettle until brown.
Add the sliced potatoes and chopped onions to the kettle.
Cover with cold water and cook until thoroughly done.
Add the chopped clams and their juice to the vegetables.
Let the chowder stand on the back of the range 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.

Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pork + potatotop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,668 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Clam + porktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together305 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

Little neck clams: Provide the main seafood flavor and body of the chowder.
Pork: Renders fat and browns in the kettle, adding savory depth to the base.
Potatoes: Cook until tender and give the chowder its thick, hearty body.
Onions: Soften during cooking and add sweetness and aroma to the broth.