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Clam Chowder

A creamy soup made with clams, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, eggs, butter, milk, and parsley.

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

Prepare the clams

  1. Remove the gills from the clams and grind them using a meat grinder.

  2. Boil the clams separately for 5 minutes.

Make the chowder

  1. In a pot, boil the cubed potatoes with the chopped tomatoes and onions until tender.

  2. Add the butter, parsley, clams, chopped eggs, and milk to the pot.

  3. Do not allow the chowder to boil after adding the milk.

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. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  5. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 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 flavor and body of the chowder.
Potatoes
Add starch that softens into the chowder and gives it body.
Milk
Adds creaminess and a mild sweetness to the broth.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and a bright, fresh flavor to the broth.

The step that matters

Keep the chowder from boiling after adding the milk. Milk can scorch on the bottom of the pot and curdle or separate when kept at a rolling boil, which spoils the smooth, creamy texture.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clam, potato, onion, egg, butter, milk, parsley):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clam, potato, onion, egg, butter, milk, parsley. 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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