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Oyster Chowder

A hearty soup made with salt pork, potatoes, oysters, butter, tomato ketchup, and oyster liquor.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,798 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Oyster Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Layer the chowder

  1. Layer salt pork in the bottom of a kettle.

  2. Add a layer of thin sliced potatoes.

  3. Place oysters over the potatoes and season with salt, pepper, and butter.

  4. Pour ½ cup of tomato ketchup over each layer.

  5. Add the oyster liquor on top.

Stew

  1. Cover tightly and let stew slowly for 30 minutes.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  5. Pork + tomatotop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,843 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

Salt pork
Renders fat into the pot, adding savory flavor to the broth.
Potatoes
Provide starch and body, thickening the chowder as they cook.
Oysters
Supply the main seafood flavor and tender texture when gently stewed.
Tomato ketchup
Adds sweetness, acidity, and color to the broth.
Oyster liquor
Adds concentrated briny seafood flavor to the broth.

The step that matters

Stew slowly and covered. Gentle, covered heat cooks the potatoes through while keeping oysters tender; boiling vigorously toughens oysters and can break the layers apart.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, potato, oyster, pepper, butter, ketchup):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, potato, oyster, pepper, butter, ketchup. 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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