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 ↓
Clam Chowder — No. 1
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the clams
Wash the clams thoroughly and place them in a pot with ½ pint of water.
Cook until the shells open, then remove the clams from the shells and chop them finely, saving the clam water.
Make the base
Fry the salt pork gently until browned, then remove the scraps.
In the same fat, fry the chopped onions delicately until they are translucent.
Add 1 quart of hot water, chopped clams, clam water, and pork scraps to the onions.
Once boiling, add the potatoes and cook until they are tender.
Finish and serve
Just before serving, thicken the chowder with 1 cup of powdered crackers and stir in 1 quart of fresh milk.
If the chowder is too rich, add more water and season with black pepper.
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).
-
Clam + porktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together305 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Potato + peppertop 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
- Quahogs or round clams
- Provide the main flavour and the meaty body of the chowder.
- Salt pork
- Adds fat and savoury depth, and the browned scraps flavour the broth.
- Onions
- Add sweetness and aroma as they soften in the pork fat.
- Potatoes
- Add starch and bulk, giving the chowder body as they cook tender.
- Powdered crackers
- Thicken the chowder through the starch they release into the liquid.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and softens the flavour of the broth.
The step that matters
Adding the powdered crackers just before serving. Crackers thicken quickly as their starch swells in hot liquid. Added too early or boiled too long, the chowder can become gluey, so stir them in gently near the end.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clam, pork, potato, milk, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatofits about as well
- Onionthe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against clam, pork, potato, milk, pepper. 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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