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Delicious Fish Chowder

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

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 the fish

  1. Remove bones and skin from the fish.

  2. Break the fish into pieces.

Cook the chowder

  1. Layer half of the potatoes, then half of the fish, followed by the minced onion, bacon, and half of the tomatoes, in a large pot.

  2. Season the layered ingredients with salt and pepper.

  3. Add the remaining fish, tomatoes, and potatoes, along with more salt and pepper.

  4. Add water to cover the ingredients.

  5. Let the mixture simmer for 30 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Scald the milk.

  2. Add a pinch of baking soda to the chowder.

  3. Mix the hot milk with butter and flour until smooth.

  4. Stir the mixture into the chowder.

  5. Serve the chowder 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. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

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

Fresh white fish
Forms the body of the chowder, flaking into tender pieces as it simmers.
Potatoes
Add starch and body, thickening the broth slightly as they cook.
Milk
Adds creaminess and richness to the broth.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor through the chowder.
Flour
Thickens the milk mixture so it blends smoothly into the chowder.
Bacon
Adds smoky, salty fat that flavors the broth.

The step that matters

Scalding and stirring in the milk mixture. Adding cold or boiling milk too fast can cause curdling or lumps. Scalding the milk and blending it smoothly with butter and flour first lets the starch disperse evenly, giving a smooth, stable chowder.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, potato, tomato, milk, butter, flour, 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.

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