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Clam Chowder

A soup made with clams, potatoes, tomatoes, onion, eggs, butter, milk, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Clam Chowder

about 3 quarts of chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the clams

  1. Grind the clams and strain the liquor.

  2. Add enough water to boil the clams and cook for about 30 minutes.

Make the chowder

  1. Grind the onion and tomatoes together.

  2. In a large pot, combine the boiled clams, diced potatoes, ground onion, ground tomatoes, and enough water to make about 3 quarts of chowder.

  3. Stir in the butter, chopped hard boiled eggs, parsley, salt, and pepper.

  4. Remove from heat and add the sweet milk, ensuring it doesn't boil.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  3. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  4. Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 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

Clams
Provide the main seafood flavor and the body of the chowder.
Potatoes
Release starch as they cook, thickening the chowder and giving it body.
Tomatoes
Add acidity, subtle sweetness and color to the broth.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth mouthfeel.
Sweet milk
Adds creaminess and softens the overall flavor of the broth.
Hard boiled eggs
Add richness and a soft, creamy texture to the chowder.

The step that matters

Adding the milk off the heat. Milk can scorch on the bottom of the pot and separate or curdle when it boils. Removing the pot from heat before adding it keeps the milk smooth and the chowder creamy.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clam, potato, onion, egg, butter, parsley, 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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