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 ↓
Fish Chowder
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the sliced potatoes in cold water, then place them in boiling water for 5 minutes and drain.
Make the chowder
Fry the diced salt pork in a pan until crispy.
Add the sliced onion to the pork fat and fry until translucent.
Strain the fat into a kettle, add the potatoes, and cover with boiling water.
Once boiling again, add the fish and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Stir in the butter and hot milk.
Serve
Place the split butter crackers in a tureen and pour the chowder over them.
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 + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + porktop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,668 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
-
Butter + milktop 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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Haddock or cod
- Provides the flaky, tender pieces that make up the body of the chowder.
- Potatoes
- Thicken the broth as they cook and give the chowder its body.
- Salt pork
- Adds savory fat and flavor that carries through the whole chowder.
- Onion
- Adds sweetness and aroma as it softens in the pork fat.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and richness to the broth.
The step that matters
Simmer the fish gently. Once the fish is added, keep the liquid at a gentle simmer rather than a hard boil. Vigorous boiling breaks the delicate fish into shreds and toughens its protein, leaving a ragged texture.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (haddock, potato, pork, butter, milk, pepper):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Onionthe original
- Tomatofits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against haddock, 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.
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