Name: Clam Chowder
Ingredients: 2 dozen clams; 6 potatoes; ¼ pound salt pork; 1 onion; 1 tablespoon butter; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 quart milk; 6 crackers; ½ teaspoon pepper

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 ↓

Clam Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the clams and potatoes

Scrub the clams in their shells until clean. Place them in a pan with 1 cup of water and cook until the shells open.
Remove the clams from their shells, cut off the necks with scissors, and chop the necks finely, leaving the soft parts whole. Save the clam broth.
Peel and slice the potatoes thinly, then soak them in cold water for 1 hour.

Make the chowder

Cut the salt pork into small pieces and fry in a pan. Add the chopped onion and cook until lightly browned.
In a kettle, add the sliced potatoes and strain the pork fat into it. Add enough boiling water to cover the potatoes and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.
Add the clam broth and an equal amount of water, then stir in the salt, pepper, and clams. Finally, add the hot milk and butter.

Serve

Place the crackers in a tureen and pour the chowder over them. 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.

Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + porktop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,668 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Clam + porktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together305 recipes

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

Clams: Provide the main flavor and tender meaty texture of the chowder.
Potatoes: Thicken the broth slightly and give the chowder its body and bulk.
Salt pork: Adds savory fat and flavor that carries through the whole chowder.
Milk: Adds creaminess and mellows the saltiness of the clam broth.
Onion: Browning in the pork fat adds sweetness and savory depth.
Crackers: Soak up the broth, adding body and a soft texture when served.

The step that matters

Adding the hot milk. Milk can curdle or scorch if it boils hard, so it should be heated gently and added once the broth is hot but not boiling.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clam, potato, pork, butter, milk, pepper):

Capsicumfits better
Onionthe original
Tomatofits about as well
Asparagusfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against clam, potato, pork, butter, milk, pepper. 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.