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Oyster Chowder

A creamy oyster chowder made with salt pork, potatoes, onions, Boston crackers, oysters, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 ↓

Oyster Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Fry the salt pork in a deep kettle, then remove the pork from heat.

  2. Slice the boiled potatoes and onion.

  3. Add pepper and coarse sea salt.

  4. Cover with split Boston crackers.

Simmer and finish

  1. Pour in enough hot water to cover the ingredients.

  2. Return to heat and boil for 20 minutes.

  3. Add the oysters and hot milk.

  4. Boil once more and serve.

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

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  4. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  5. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 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

Oysters
Provide the main seafood flavor and tender texture as they cook briefly in the broth.
Potatoes
Thicken the chowder as their starch softens during boiling and add body.
Salt pork
Renders fat into the kettle that carries flavor through the chowder.
Boston crackers
Soak up liquid and help thicken the broth as they break down.
Milk
Adds creaminess and a mild sweetness that softens the broth's sharpness.
Onion
Adds savory aroma and depth as it softens in the broth.

The step that matters

Adding the oysters and milk. Oysters turn tough and rubbery if overcooked, and milk can curdle or scorch when boiled hard. Add them last and keep the final boil brief.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

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

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