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Clam-cho Wder

A hearty soup made with clams, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, and sea biscuit, seasoned with salt, pepper, thyme, savory, and marjoram.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and potato 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-cho Wder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the clams

  1. Remove the clams from their shells and chop the soft parts finely.

  2. Place the chopped clams in a deep kettle and cover with water; boil gently until tender.

Build and simmer the chowder

  1. Layer the onions, potatoes, tomatoes, and soaked sea-biscuit in the kettle with the clams.

  2. Season each layer with salt, pepper, thyme, savory, and marjoram.

  3. Pour enough cold water to cover the chowder completely.

  4. Cover the kettle and simmer gently for about 20 minutes until the potatoes and onions are tender.

  5. Taste and adjust the seasoning 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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Tomato + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Potato + thymetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,586 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 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

Clams
Provide the main seafood flavour and texture of the chowder.
Potatoes
Add body and starch that soften during simmering and thicken the broth slightly.
Sea-biscuit
Soaked in milk, it adds starch and body that help thicken the chowder.
Onions
Contribute sweetness and aromatic depth as they soften during simmering.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and moisture that brighten the broth.

The step that matters

Simmer gently once the cold water is added. Gentle simmering keeps the clams tender and prevents the potatoes from breaking down unevenly, while the starch from the potatoes and soaked biscuit slowly thickens the broth. A vigorous boil can toughen clam meat.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clam, onion, potato, biscuit, milk, pepper, thyme):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clam, onion, potato, biscuit, milk, pepper, thyme. 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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