Why it works: Pork and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,214 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Fish Chowder
Ingredients
Directions
Layer the pot
Cut the salt pork into strips and fry until crispy.
Layer the bottom of a pot with the fried pork.
Cut the fish into small pieces and add a layer on top of the pork.
Add a layer of sliced onion, then season with salt and pepper.
Add a layer of moistened crackers, followed by more pork, fish, onion, seasoning, and crackers.
Top with buttered crackers.
Cover the entire mixture with cold water.
Stew and thicken
Stew gently for 1 hour, keeping it covered with water.
When done, thicken the chowder with 1 tablespoon of flour and 1 tablespoon of butter.
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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Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pork + fishtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together668 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Salt pork
- Fried until crispy, it renders fat that flavours the chowder and browns the pot base.
- Cod or any large fish
- Forms the main body of the chowder, becoming tender as it stews gently.
- Crackers
- Soften when moistened and absorb liquid, adding body to the layers.
- Onion
- Adds sweetness and aroma as it softens during the stew.
- Flour
- Thickens the cooking liquid into a looser, creamier broth when combined with butter.
The step that matters
Gentle stew with the fish kept covered. Simmering gently keeps the fish moist and tender instead of toughening its proteins. Keeping everything submerged in water prevents the top layers from drying out during the hour-long stew.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, fish, pepper, butter, flour):
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Shallotfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, fish, pepper, butter, flour. 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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