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Clam Chowder

A creamy soup made with clams, potatoes, onions, milk, butter, flour, and seasoning.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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

Make the broth

  1. Combine clam juice and ½ cup hot water in a pot.

  2. Add sliced onion and boil until cooked.

  3. Add thickly sliced potatoes and cook until nearly tender.

  4. Stir in chopped clams and cook for a few minutes.

Thicken the milk

  1. In a separate pot, heat milk with salt and pepper until just boiling.

  2. Mix 1 tablespoon flour with a small piece of butter and a little cold milk until smooth.

  3. Stir the mixture into the hot milk.

  4. Remove the clam broth from heat for 5 minutes.

Combine and finish

  1. Add the thickened milk to the broth and stir well.

  2. Return the mixture to low heat, ensuring it does not boil to prevent curdling.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  4. Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  5. Potato + clamtop 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

Potatoes
Hold their shape and add body and starch to the chowder as they cook.
Milk
Forms the creamy base of the chowder, giving it richness and a smooth texture.
Flour
Thickens the milk so the chowder becomes creamy rather than watery.
Clams
Provide the main seafood flavor and chewy texture.
Clam juice
Adds concentrated sea flavor to the broth.
Spanish onion
Adds savory sweetness and aroma to the broth.

The step that matters

Keep the milk from boiling after adding it to the broth. Once the thickened milk is combined with the broth, boiling can cause the dairy to curdle and the texture to turn grainy. Gentle low heat keeps the emulsion smooth.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, potato, clam, butter, flour, pepper. 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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