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A Clam Chowder

A creamy clam chowder made with clams, potatoes, salt pork, onions, crackers, milk, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

A Clam Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the clams

  1. Boil the clams in 1 quart of water in a covered pot until they open.

  2. Remove the clams from the pot.

  3. Strain the water through a cloth, reserving it.

  4. Clean the clams, removing any sand and the black heads.

Make the base

  1. Fry the salt pork in the pot until brown. Remove the fried salt pork from the pot.

  2. Sauté the chopped onions in the pork fat until browned. Remove the browned onions from the pot.

  3. Return the fried salt pork and browned onions to the pot.

Assemble and cook

  1. Layer the clams, sliced potatoes, and broken crackers in the pot with the pork, onions, salt, and pepper.

  2. Pour the reserved clam water and enough additional water to cover the chowder over the layers.

  3. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 to 30 minutes.

  4. In a tureen, combine the milk and butter, then pour in the chowder when done.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  5. 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 texture of the chowder, and their liquor adds savory depth.
Salt pork
Renders fat for frying the onions and adds savory, smoky richness.
Onions
Browned in pork fat, they add sweetness and a deeper savory flavor.
Potatoes
Soften during simmering to thicken the chowder and give it body.
Crackers
Absorb liquid and break down, helping thicken the chowder.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mild sweetness to the finished chowder.

The step that matters

Cooking the clams until they open. Clams that stay closed may be dead and unsafe to eat, and overboiling makes them tough and rubbery. Boil just until the shells open, then remove them promptly.

Swap the onion

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

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

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