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Potato Chowder

A hearty soup made with potatoes, salt pork, onions, milk, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Potato Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. In a frying pan, fry the salt pork and sliced onion until light brown.

  2. In a kettle, layer the diced potatoes, onions, and pork, sprinkling with salt, pepper, and parsley between layers.

  3. Pour the grease from the frying pan over the layers, add 1 pint of water, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the milk and serve

  1. In a double boiler, scald the milk, then mix in the flour and butter or drippings until smooth.

  2. Add the milk mixture to the pot when the potatoes are tender, stirring carefully to avoid breaking the potatoes.

  3. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

  4. Serve very hot.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Potato + porktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Provide the bulk of the chowder and thicken it as their starch softens during simmering.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savory flavor that carries through the layers and the cooking liquid.
Milk
Adds creaminess and richness to the broth when stirred in at the end.
Flour
Thickens the milk mixture so the chowder becomes smooth and body-rich rather than watery.
Onion
Contributes sweetness and aroma as it browns with the salt pork.

The step that matters

Adding the milk mixture. Stirring gently keeps the cooked potatoes intact. Vigorous stirring breaks down their starch and softens the pieces, and adding milk to a boiling liquid can cause it to curdle, so the milk should be warmed and added at a gentle simmer.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, flour, pork, milk, parsley, butter, 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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