Skip to main content
Main

Coney Island Clam Chowder

A clam chowder made with clams, potatoes, ham, onions, tomatoes, herbs, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Thyme and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,108 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Coney Island Clam Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Scald the clams, cut them into pieces, and save the liquor.

  2. Cut the potatoes into large squares and slice the onions.

Make the chowder

  1. In a saucepan, combine butter and ham, then add onions on top and heat over the fire.

  2. Stick the cloves into a small onion, tie it with bay leaf and parsley, and add to the saucepan along with the herbs.

  3. Cover and let stew slowly for about 15 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. Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

  3. Tomato + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Potato + thymetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,586 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 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 the chowder's body.
Potatoes
Add starch that thickens the broth and gives the chowder substance.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavor from the onions and ham.
Onions
Build sweetness and aromatic depth as they soften in the fat.
Ham
Adds savory, smoky flavor to the base.
Tomatoes
Contribute acidity and brightness that balance the rich broth.

The step that matters

Cover and let stew slowly for about 15 minutes. A gentle, covered simmer lets the potatoes and aromatics release flavor without boiling hard. Vigorous boiling can break up the potatoes and toughen the clams, so keep the heat low and the pot covered.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clam, potato, butter, onion, ham, tomato, thyme):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clam, potato, butter, onion, ham, tomato, thyme. 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.

You might also like

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