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Clam Chowder

A creamy soup made with clams, potatoes, onions, salt pork, tomatoes, and biscuits.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 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 ↓

Clam Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Drain the clams and juice through a colander set over a bowl.

  2. Pour 1 quart of cold water over the clams and set aside in a cool place.

  3. Soak the sliced potatoes in cold water.

  4. Fry the salt pork in a hot pan until light brown.

  5. Transfer the pork and its fat to a flat-bottomed pot.

Make the chowder

  1. Drain the potatoes and layer them over the pork, followed by the onions.

  2. Add ½ pint of hot water and the clam juice to the pot.

  3. Pour the tomato juice over the onions and potatoes, cover, and stew slowly for 45 minutes.

  4. Chop the clams finely and add them to the pot.

  5. Season with white pepper, thyme, and salt.

  6. Cover with Uneeda biscuits and stew slowly for 30 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Stir the chowder and adjust salt if necessary.

  2. Stir in ½ pint of boiled milk and serve. If too thick, add 1 cup of milk.

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. Tomato + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Potato + thymetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,586 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

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

  5. Potato + porktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Clams
Provide the main seafood flavour and, with their juice, the broth's briny taste.
Potatoes
Add body and starch that thickens the broth and gives the chowder its substance.
Salt pork
Renders fat that carries flavour into the pot and browns the base.
White onions
Add sweetness and aroma as they soften during the slow stew.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mellows the broth when stirred in at the end.
Uneeda biscuits
Soak up broth as they cook, adding body and thickening the chowder.

The step that matters

Stew slowly and keep the heat low. Slow, gentle simmering lets the potatoes soften and release starch without breaking apart, and keeps the milk from curdling or scorching when it is added.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clam, potato, onion, pork, tomato, thyme, milk. 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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