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 ↓
New England Fish-chowder
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Slice the salt pork.
Fry the sliced pork in a large, round-bottom iron pot over gentle heat until light brown. Remove and set aside.
Peel and slice two large onions. Fry the sliced onions with the pork until light brown. Remove and set aside.
Peel and slice four more large onions.
Peel and slice ten medium-sized potatoes into ¼-inch thick slices.
Cut the fish into 1-inch thick slices. Remove bones and skin if desired.
Layer and simmer
In the pot, layer fish, potatoes, and raw onions. Season each layer with 1 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper.
Repeat layering until half the ingredients are used. Add half the pork and half the crackers, seasoning as before.
Layer the remaining fish, potatoes, and onions. Top with the rest of the pork and crackers.
Pour enough cold water to cover the layers by 3 inches.
Cover the pot and simmer gently for 1 hour, avoiding intense heat to prevent burning.
Finish and serve
After 1 hour, add 1 pint of milk. Bring to a boil.
Serve.
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).
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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).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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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
- Salt pork
- Renders fat that flavours the broth and browns the onions.
- Potatoes
- Starch that thickens the broth and gives the chowder body.
- Cod or haddock
- Flaky fish that forms the main body of the chowder.
- Sea biscuit or pilot crackers
- Soak up cooking liquid, thickening the chowder and adding body.
- Milk
- Adds richness and creaminess to the broth.
The step that matters
Simmer gently without intense heat. Strong heat scorches the bottom of the pot and the milk-enriched broth, and can break the fish apart. A gentle simmer cooks the potatoes through while keeping the layers intact.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, potato, haddock, biscuit, pepper, milk):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Spinachfits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, potato, haddock, biscuit, pepper, 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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