Why it works: Haddock and ketchup share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 23 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Fish Chowdee
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pot
Fry the salt pork in a pot until crisp, then remove and chop finely, leaving the fat in the pot.
Layer and stew
Layer the fish, split crackers, chopped pork, and onion in the pot, seasoning with pepper.
Repeat the layers, then cover with water and stew for 30 minutes.
Thicken and serve
Transfer to a serving dish, thicken the gravy with flour, and add ketchup.
Boil briefly, pour over the chowder, and serve.
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.
-
Haddock + ketchuptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together23 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Flour + ketchuptop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,435 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,121 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
- Haddock
- Forms the main body of the chowder, flaking into tender pieces as it stews.
- Salt pork
- Its rendered fat adds savory richness and flavor to the pot.
- Split crackers
- Absorb liquid and help thicken the chowder as they soften.
- Onion
- Adds aromatic sweetness and savory depth as it softens in the stew.
- Flour
- Thickens the gravy by swelling in the hot liquid.
- Ketchup
- Adds sweetness and acidity that rounds out the gravy.
The step that matters
Thickening the gravy with flour. Flour must be mixed in so it disperses without lumps; added to hot liquid in a dry clump, it stays grainy. Boiling briefly after adding it lets the starch swell fully and thicken the gravy.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (haddock, pork, pepper, flour, ketchup):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Potatofits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against haddock, pork, pepper, flour, ketchup. 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.
More fish chowder recipes
You might also like
Pork Cake107 recipes
Roast Pork82 recipes
Boiled Haddock10 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.