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Chowder, Fish

A hearty haddock chowder with potatoes, onions, bacon, herbs, and a biscuit-thickened milk base.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Chowder, Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the broth

  1. Boil the haddock bones in water for 2 hours.

  2. Fry the minced onion and chopped bacon in a pan until light golden.

Layer and stew

  1. In a cooking pot, layer the potatoes and fish alternately, sprinkling each layer with onion, bacon, parsley, thyme, marjoram, pepper, and salt.

  2. Ensure the top layer is potatoes.

  3. Strain the liquid from the boiled bones and pour it over the layered ingredients.

  4. Cover and stew for 30 minutes.

Thicken and serve

  1. Boil the milk and stir in the ground captain's biscuit; let it stand for 5 minutes.

  2. Add the milk mixture to the chowder, stir, and bring to a boil.

  3. Serve very hot, garnished with croutons, fried crumbs, and chopped parsley.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Marjoram + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Haddock
Forms the flaky main body of the chowder and contributes its delicate flavour.
Potatoes
Break down slightly during stewing to give the chowder body and starchy thickness.
Bacon
Adds smoky, savoury fat that flavours the onion and the broth.
Onion
Builds a sweet, aromatic base once softened and golden in the fat.
Milk
Adds richness and creaminess, softening the broth's sharpness.
Captain's biscuit
Absorbs liquid and swells when stirred into hot milk, thickening the chowder.

The step that matters

Bringing the milk mixture to a boil after adding it. Milk can scorch or curdle when overheated, and the starch needs to be fully hydrated to thicken properly, so stir steadily and watch the pot closely.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (haddock, potato, parsley, thyme, marjoram, pepper, milk):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against haddock, potato, parsley, thyme, marjoram, pepper, milk. 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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