Skip to main content
Main

Clam Chowder

A creamy clam chowder with clams, potatoes, onion, tomatoes, eggs, butter, pepper, salt, and milk or cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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

  1. Boil clams, potatoes, and onion for about 30 minutes, or until potatoes are soft.

  2. Add the tomato soup (or fresh tomatoes), hard boiled eggs, butter, red pepper, and salt.

  3. Just before serving, stir in the milk or cream.

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

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

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

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

  4. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  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

Potatoes
Soften during boiling and thicken the chowder as their starch releases into the broth.
Clams
Provide the main seafood flavor and tender bite in the chowder.
Milk or cream
Adds richness and a smooth, creamy body when stirred in at the end.
Butter
Adds fat for a rounded, savory richness and mouthfeel.
Tomato soup or fresh tomatoes
Adds acidity and color, giving the chowder a tangy, reddish character.

The step that matters

Stir in the milk or cream just before serving. Dairy added early can curdle or separate when held at a long boil. Adding it at the end, off a vigorous boil, keeps the chowder smooth and creamy.

Swap the tomato

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

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

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

More clam chowder recipes

Baked 5New England 5Coney Island 3Manhattan 3 See all 243 →

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesPotato CroquettesPotato Croquettes255 recipesCream of Tomato SoupCream of Tomato Soup107 recipesPotato RollsPotato Rolls78 recipes