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Fish Chowder

A creamy stew of fish, potatoes, onions, bacon, celery, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

Fish Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Break the fish into flakes, discarding the skin and bones.

  2. Peel and wash the potatoes and onion, then slice the potatoes and chop the onion.

  3. Cut the bacon into small pieces.

Make the chowder

  1. Melt the butter in a pan, then stir in the flour and add the milk or water.

  2. Layer the potatoes and fish in the pan, adding the celery, bacon, onion, and seasoning.

  3. Simmer gently for 30 minutes, then serve hot, garnished with chopped parsley.

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. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  5. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Provide the bulk and body of the chowder as they soften during simmering.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, and forms the base with flour for thickening.
Flour
Thickens the liquid with butter, giving the chowder a creamy body.
Milk or water
Forms the liquid of the chowder, with milk adding creaminess and richness.
Cooked fish
Provides the main protein and flavor, flaking into the chowder as it heats.
Bacon
Adds smoky, savory fat and flavor to the broth.

The step that matters

Simmer gently for 30 minutes. Gentle heat keeps the cooked fish tender and in flakes; a hard boil can toughen and break it apart, and it can scorch milk on the pan base.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Garlicfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

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