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Clam Chowder

A creamy soup made with clams, salt pork, onion, potatoes, milk, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and potato 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

  1. Remove the tough part from the clams and chop finely, leaving the soft part whole.

  2. Cut the salt pork into small pieces and fry with the sliced onion.

Make the chowder

  1. Add the diced potatoes to the boiling water.

  2. Stir in the clams and their juice, along with the pork and onion.

  3. Cover and cook slowly for 1.5 hours.

  4. Just before serving, stir the flour into the milk and add it to the chowder.

  5. If the chowder is too thick, add more milk or water.

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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Pork + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  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 flavor and texture, with their juice adding savory depth to the broth.
Salt pork
Renders fat as it fries, adding savory richness to the base.
Potatoes
Release starch as they cook, helping thicken and body the chowder.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mild sweetness, softening the broth's texture.
Flour
Thickens the milk, giving the chowder a smoother, heavier body.

The step that matters

Cook slowly and covered for 1.5 hours. Gentle heat keeps clams tender instead of rubbery, while covering retains moisture and flavor. Adding flour-thickened milk just before serving prevents curdling and a pasty texture.

Swap the onion

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

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

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