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Corn Chowder

A hearty soup made with salt pork, onion, corn, potato, water, butter, flour, milk, and crackers.

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

Corn Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chowder

  1. In a saucepan, cook the salt pork over medium heat until it begins to fry.

  2. Add the sliced onion and stir until it starts to brown.

  3. Stir in the corn, diced potato, and boiling water.

  4. Add the butter and cook for 30 minutes.

  5. Mix in the flour, milk, salt, and pepper, and bring to a boil.

Serve

  1. Add the rolled crackers and serve.

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. Corn + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together938 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Pork + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  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

Salt pork
Renders fat that carries flavour through the chowder.
Potato
Breaks down slightly to thicken the broth and add body.
Flour
Thickens the milk mixture into a smooth, creamy base.
Milk
Adds creaminess and a soft, rich texture.
Rolled crackers
Soak up broth and add body and a toasted, savoury edge.

The step that matters

Bringing the milk mixture to a boil. Flour needs to heat through to thicken properly, but milk can scorch on the bottom of the pan or curdle if it overheats. Stir steadily and watch the heat as it comes up to a boil.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, corn, potato, 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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