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
Wash the clams thoroughly and place them in a pot with ½ pint of water.
Cook until the shells open, then remove the clams from the shells and chop them finely, saving the clam water.
In a frying pan, gently fry the salt pork until browned, then remove the scraps.
Add the chopped onions to the pan and fry delicately until they are translucent.
Make the chowder
In a clean chowder kettle, add 1 quart of hot water, the clams, clam water, and pork scraps.
Bring to a boil, then add the potatoes and cook until tender.
Finish and serve
Just before serving, thicken the chowder with 1 cup of powdered crackers and stir in 1 quart of fresh milk.
If the chowder is too rich, add more water and season with black pepper.
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.
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Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Pork + potatotop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,668 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
-
Clam + porktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together305 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Quahogs
- Provide the main shellfish flavour and chewy texture once chopped into the chowder.
- Salt pork
- Adds savoury fat and browned flavour to the base of the chowder.
- Potatoes
- Soften into the broth and add body and starch to the chowder.
- Powdered crackers
- Thicken the chowder as they absorb liquid and dissolve into the broth.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and mild sweetness, softening the chowder's flavour.
The step that matters
Thickening with powdered crackers. Crackers must be added just before serving, after the potatoes are tender. Stirring them in too early or letting the chowder boil hard after adding milk can make it gluey or cause the milk to curdle, so keep the heat gentle.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clam, pork, potato, milk, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatofits about as well
- Onionthe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against clam, pork, potato, 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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