Name: Clam Chowder
Ingredients: 1 ½ dozen clams; 1 large onion; 3 good-sized potatoes; 2 tablespoons butter; 1 pint milk; 2 tablespoons flour; pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste; celery or celery salt to taste

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 ↓

Clam Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

Remove the liquor from the clams and double it with water.
Dice the potatoes and add them to the pot with the liquor, onion, and celery tops.
Boil until the potatoes are soft.

Finish the chowder

Chop the clams and add them to the pot, boiling for no more than 20 minutes.
Stir in the milk, then mix the flour and butter together and add to the chowder.
Add the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs, stirring well to make it smooth.
Before serving, add the diced egg whites.

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.

Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,047 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

Clams: Provide the main seafood flavour and texture, and their liquor adds savoury depth to the broth.
Potatoes: Thicken the broth as they soften and give the chowder its body.
Milk: Adds creaminess and mild sweetness to the broth.
Flour: Thickens the milk and broth into a smooth, cohesive base when cooked with butter.
Butter: Adds richness and fat, and combines with flour to form a thickening roux.
Egg yolks (in the method): Enrich the chowder and help it turn smooth and creamy when stirred in.

The step that matters

Boiling the clams. Clams turn tough and rubbery when overcooked, so they should be boiled for no more than 20 minutes.

Swap the celery

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

Parsleyfits better
Garlicfits better
Thymefits about as well
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clam, onion, potato, butter, milk, 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.