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Clam Chowder

A creamy soup made with salt pork, potatoes, onions, clams, and milk, served with hard crackers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion 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

  1. Fry the salt pork in a large iron pot until crisp.

  2. Layer the sliced potatoes and onions over the pork.

  3. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and flour.

  4. Repeat layers until all ingredients are used.

Cook and serve

  1. Add enough hot water to cover the mixture and cook slowly.

  2. When nearly done, stir in the butter and milk.

  3. Add the canned clams and cook until heated through.

  4. Serve with hard crackers on the side.

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

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

  4. Pork + clamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together305 recipes

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

  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

Potatoes
Provide starchy body that thickens the chowder and gives it substance.
Onions
Add sweetness and savory aroma as they soften during slow cooking.
Flour
Thickens the liquid so the chowder becomes creamy rather than watery.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving a smoother, rounder mouthfeel.
Milk
Forms the creamy base of the chowder and adds mild sweetness.
Clams
Contribute the main seafood flavor and briny taste to the chowder.

The step that matters

Cook slowly after adding the water. Gentle heat lets the potatoes cook through evenly without breaking apart or scorching on the bottom of the pot. Adding the clams only at the end, until heated through, keeps them tender and prevents them from turning rubbery.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, potato, pepper, flour, butter, milk, clam. 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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