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Soup

Cod Chowder

A chowder of cod, salt pork, onion, Boston crackers, oysters and milk, thickened with corn-starch.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Cod Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Layer and simmer

  1. In a soup pot, layer a handful of cod, followed by pork, onion, and pepper, then cover with crackers.

  2. Repeat until all ingredients are used.

  3. Cover with cold water, place the lid on, and simmer gently for about an hour after boiling.

  4. Remove the fish and crackers with a slotted spoon and place them in a tureen set in hot water.

  5. Strain the broth through a colander to remove bones, then return it to the pot.

Thicken and finish

  1. In a small bowl, mix butter and corn-starch, then stir into the broth and bring to a boil.

  2. Add the chopped oysters and parsley, simmer for 5 minutes, then stir in the hot milk.

  3. Pour the chowder into the tureen and serve with hot crackers and sliced lemon.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Fish + oystertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together496 recipes

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

  3. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Pork + corntop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,069 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Onion + porktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 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

Cod
Forms the main body of the chowder, flaking into tender pieces as it simmers in the broth.
Boston crackers
Soften in the broth and add body, thickening the chowder as they break down.
Salt pork
Adds savory fat and salty flavor that enriches the broth.
Butter
Adds richness and, mixed with corn-starch, helps form a smooth thickened base.
Corn-starch
Thickens the broth when heated, giving the chowder a smooth, velvety body.
Oysters
Contribute briny, delicate seafood flavor and a tender texture when simmered briefly.

The step that matters

Adding the corn-starch mixture to the broth. Corn-starch must be heated to a boil to thicken fully. If it is added lumpy or undissolved, it clumps instead of thickening evenly, leaving the chowder with a pasty texture.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, onion, pork, butter, corn, oyster, milk):

  1. Garlicfits about as well
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Celeryfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, onion, pork, butter, corn, oyster, 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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