Why it works: Onion and potato 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 ↓
Fish Chowder, No. 1
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the fish into 3-inch square pieces.
In a pot, fry the salt pork until brown.
Add sliced onions and fry until brown.
Layer and cook
Layer fish over the pork and onions, sprinkling with pepper and salt.
Add layers of sliced potatoes and fish until all ingredients are used.
Cover with water and boil for 30 minutes.
Crush the biscuits or crackers and add to the pot.
Finally, add the milk and let it scald well before serving.
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.
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Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Pork + potatotop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,668 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
-
Onion + biscuittop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together428 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Haddock or cod
- Forms the flaky, tender body of the chowder as it cooks.
- Salt pork
- Renders fat and browned flavor into the pot that seasons the whole chowder.
- Onions
- Browning them builds sweetness and savory depth in the base.
- Potatoes
- Their starch softens and slightly thickens the broth as they cook.
- Biscuits or crackers
- Crushed, they absorb liquid and help thicken the chowder.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and body to the finished broth.
The step that matters
Let the milk scald well. Milk added to a hot broth can curdle or separate if overheated too hard or too long. Scalding it gently, just below a boil, keeps the chowder smooth and creamy.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (haddock, pork, pepper, potato, biscuit, milk):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Spinachfits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against haddock, pork, pepper, potato, biscuit, 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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