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Clam Chowder

A soup made with clams, potatoes, pork fat, and crackers soaked in milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,668 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Clam Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Assemble

  1. Layer the sliced potatoes and clams in a pot, alternating between them for six layers.

  2. Sprinkle pepper, salt, and pork fat over each layer of clams.

  3. Cover completely with boiling water and boil for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are done.

Finish

  1. Soak the crackers in the milk while the chowder is boiling.

  2. Once the potatoes are done, add the soaked crackers to the chowder and let it boil briefly.

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 + porktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Clam + porktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together305 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

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

  4. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  5. Clam + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together80 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).

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

What each ingredient does

Clams
Provide the main seafood flavor and savory body of the chowder.
Sliced potatoes
Add starch that gives the chowder body and substance as they cook through.
Crackers
Soak up liquid and thicken the chowder as they break down in the broth.
Milk
Adds creaminess and richness to the broth.
Pork fat
Adds richness and savory flavor to the layers.

The step that matters

Adding the soaked crackers. Crackers are added only after the potatoes are done, so they thicken the broth without breaking down before the potatoes cook. Adding them too early can make the chowder pasty and cloudy, while a brief boil helps them fully thicken the liquid.

“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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