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Delicious Fish Chowder

A hearty soup made with white fish, potatoes, bacon, onions, tomatoes, milk, butter, flour, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion 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 ↓

Delicious Fish Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove bones and skin from the fish and break it into pieces.

Layer and simmer

  1. In a granite kettle, layer half of the potatoes, then half of the fish, followed by the minced onion, bacon, and half of the tomatoes.

  2. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then add the remaining fish, tomatoes, and potatoes, along with more salt and pepper.

  3. Cover with water and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Scald the milk and add a pinch of baking soda to the chowder.

  2. Mix the hot milk with the butter and flour until smooth, then stir into the chowder.

  3. Serve very hot.

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

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

  2. Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

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

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  5. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Fresh white fish
Forms the main body of the chowder, flaking into tender pieces as it cooks.
Potatoes
Add starch and body, thickening the broth and giving the chowder substance.
Milk
Adds creaminess and richness, mellowing the broth into a smooth chowder.
Bacon
Contributes fat and smoky, savory flavor to the broth.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and moisture, giving the broth a brighter flavor.
Flour
Combined with butter, it thickens the milk and smooths the chowder's texture.

The step that matters

Stirring the butter and flour into the hot milk. Mixing the flour and butter into hot milk until smooth prevents lumps; stirring them in lumpy or cold can leave floury clumps, while adding the thickened milk gently keeps the chowder creamy.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, potato, onion, milk, butter, egg, flour):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, potato, onion, milk, butter, egg, 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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