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Fish Chowder

A hearty soup of fish, potatoes, and onions with a roux-based sauce.

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 ↓

Fish Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Fry the salt pork with the chopped onion in a kettle until brown.

  2. Add the fish and cover with boiling water; season with a little salt.

  3. Cook until the fish is tender.

Finish the chowder

  1. Boil the sliced potatoes until tender, then add them to the chowder.

  2. Stir in the milk.

  3. Melt the butter, then stir in the flour to make a roux.

  4. Gradually add 1 cup of the hot liquid to the roux, stirring until smooth.

  5. Add the roux to the chowder and season with pepper and salt to taste.

  6. Top with crackers before serving.

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. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  5. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

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

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 browns the onion and adds savory flavor to the broth.
Fish (in the method)
Provides the main protein; cooking it gently in the broth keeps it tender and flaky.
Potatoes
Soften into the broth and thicken it slightly with their starch, giving body.
Milk
Adds creaminess and richness, softening the broth's savory edge.
Butter and flour
Form a roux that thickens the chowder smoothly and adds richness.

The step that matters

Making the roux. Flour must cook in melted butter before liquid is added, or it stays floury. Adding hot liquid gradually while stirring prevents lumps, giving a smooth, evenly thickened chowder.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against haddock, pork, potato, milk, butter, flour, 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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