Name: Clam Chowder
Ingredients: ½ cup butter; 1 cup grated breadcrumbs or soaked crackers; pepper to taste; ¼ cup finely chopped parsley; 50 clams; ½ cup soaked crackers

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Clam Chowder

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Butter a basin and line it with grated breadcrumbs or soaked crackers.
Sprinkle with pepper, bits of butter, and finely chopped parsley.

Assemble and bake

Add a double layer of clams and season with pepper and bits of butter.
Add another layer of soaked crackers.
Cover with a plate and bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) 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.

Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Butter + clamtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together840 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together28,563 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Parsley + clamtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together232 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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 make up the body of the dish.
Butter: Adds richness and moisture, helping the crackers and breadcrumbs brown lightly.
Grated breadcrumbs or soaked crackers: Form the layers that hold the clams and absorb moisture as the dish bakes.
Parsley: Adds fresh, green aroma that brightens the rich flavors.

“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.