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Gloucester Codfish Chowder

A codfish chowder with sliced potatoes, onions, and milk, topped with cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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 ↓

Gloucester Codfish Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the codfish in 1 pint of water to freshen, changing the water at least once.

  2. Layer the drained fish in a stew pot with the sliced potatoes, chopped onion, salt, and pepper.

  3. Cover with cracker crumbs and add enough hot water to cover the ingredients.

Cook and serve

  1. Boil for 20 minutes.

  2. Add 2 cups of milk (or milk and cream), season to taste, and let it boil up well.

  3. Serve with chopped parsley if desired.

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.

  1. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Codfish
Provides the main flavor and the flaky protein that makes up the chowder.
Potatoes
Soften during simmering and thicken the broth while adding body.
Milk
Adds creaminess and richness to the broth.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb liquid and help thicken the chowder.

The step that matters

Adding the milk. Once milk is added, it should be heated gently and not left to scorch on the bottom of the pot. Boiling it hard after adding it can cause it to curdle or stick, so keep the heat controlled while letting it come up well.

Swap the parsley

The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, onion, pepper, milk):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Celeryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, onion, 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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