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Clam Chowder

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Clam Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a tin pail, layer small pieces of salt pork.

  2. Add a layer of chopped clams.

  3. Place a layer of thinly sliced raw potatoes on top.

  4. Add vegetables like celery, tomatoes, sliced onion, and parsley.

  5. Sprinkle with slices of lemon and pepper.

  6. Top with a layer of broken Boston crackers or pilot biscuits.

  7. Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used.

  8. Pour clam juice over the layers and add a little water to moisten.

  9. Cover the pail and place it in a kettle of boiling water.

  10. Boil for three hours, checking moisture after the first hour.

  11. If needed, add more water to ensure everything cooks well.

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. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  3. Celery + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

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

  5. Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

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

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, clam, potato, celery, tomato, onion, parsley):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Lemonthe original
  3. Limefits about as well
  4. Cherryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, clam, potato, celery, tomato, onion, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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