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 ↓
Fish Chowdee
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Fry the salt pork in a deep kettle until brown, but not burned.
Layer and cook
Layer the fish over the pork, then add a layer of potatoes dredged with flour, pepper, and salt.
Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used.
Pour hot water over the layers, not quite covering them, and boil until the potatoes are tender.
Finish and serve
In another saucepan, heat the milk.
Once the potatoes are tender, add the heated milk, butter, and soaked crackers to the chowder.
Boil once 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.
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Potato + porktop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,668 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Fish + porktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together668 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Salt pork
- Renders fat and browns, flavouring the broth from the bottom of the kettle.
- Potatoes
- Soften during simmering and thicken the chowder while adding body.
- Fish
- Provides the main protein, cooking gently in the layers and flaking into the broth.
- Boston crackers
- Soaked crackers soften and help thicken the chowder as they break down.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and richness to the broth once heated and stirred in.
The step that matters
Boil once and serve after adding the milk. Milk can curdle or scorch if it is boiled hard or for long. A single brief boil keeps the milk smooth and the fish tender.
“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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