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Clam Chowder

A soup made with clams, corned pork, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, and soda crackers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the clams

  1. Wash the clams thoroughly and place them in a pot with enough water to cover them.

  2. Boil until the shells open, then remove the clams and strain the liquid.

  3. Chop the clams finely.

Make the chowder

  1. Chop the corned pork and fry it until brown.

  2. Add the strained liquid, chopped clams, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, and broken soda crackers to the pot.

  3. Boil for 2 to 3 hours, seasoning to taste.

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

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

  3. Pork + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  5. Clam + porktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together305 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Clams
Provide the main flavor and texture of the chowder, and release a briny liquid as they cook.
Potatoes
Thicken the broth as they break down and give the chowder its body.
Corned pork
Adds savory, browned fat and flavor to the base of the chowder.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and a tangy sweetness that balances the rich broth.
Soda crackers
Help thicken the broth as they soften and absorb liquid.

The step that matters

Long simmer after adding the vegetables. Boiling for 2 to 3 hours lets the potatoes break down and thicken the broth, while the clams stay tender only if they are not overcooked earlier. Watch the liquid level and seasoning as it reduces.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clam, pork, onion, potato):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against clam, pork, onion, potato. 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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