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Fish Chowder

A creamy soup made with fish, potatoes, tomatoes, and lemon, seasoned with butter, flour, onion, and herbs.

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

Fish Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Boil the red fish and remove the bones.

Make the chowder

  1. Melt the butter in a pot.

  2. Add enough flour to thicken and brown.

  3. Add a small piece of onion.

  4. Pour in the water used to cook the fish.

  5. Add the cubed potatoes, canned tomatoes, Lea & Perrin's sauce, salt, pepper, celery, and parsley.

  6. Cook until the potatoes are done.

Finish and serve

  1. Boil the lemon pieces for about 5 minutes before serving.

  2. Add the lemon pieces to the chowder.

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

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

  3. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  4. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  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

Red fish
Forms the main body of the chowder as the protein.
Flour
Thickens the broth and browns to add color and body.
Irish potatoes
Add starch that softens and thickens the chowder as they cook.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and body to the broth.
Lemon
Adds acidity and bright citrus aroma to the chowder.

The step that matters

Cook the flour in the butter before adding liquid. Flour cooked briefly in melted butter forms a roux that thickens smoothly and browns for flavor. Adding liquid too early can leave lumps and a raw, pasty taste.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, butter, flour, potato, tomato, sauce, pepper):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter, flour, potato, tomato, sauce, 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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