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New England Potato Chowder

A creamy potato chowder with bacon, onions, milk, and Worcestershire sauce.

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 ↓

New England Potato Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel the potatoes, slice them into ⅓ inch thick pieces, and cut into 1 inch squares.

  2. Soak the sliced potatoes in cold water.

  3. Slice the onion and dice the bacon.

Make the chowder

  1. Fry the onion and bacon together until lightly browned.

  2. Drain the fat into a deep saucepan, add the potatoes, and mix in the crispy bacon, salt, and pepper.

  3. Cover the potatoes with boiling water and cook without stirring until tender, about 15 minutes.

  4. Mix the flour and butter together, then add the hot milk and blend well.

  5. Carefully stir the milk mixture into the chowder, being careful not to break the potatoes.

  6. Let it boil until the flour is cooked, then add the Worcestershire sauce and serve with hot toasted crackers.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 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
Form the bulk of the chowder and soften into a tender, hearty texture as they cook.
Milk
Makes the creamy liquid base of the chowder.
Bacon
Adds smoky, savory fat and flavor to the dish.
Flour
Thickens the milk mixture so the chowder becomes creamy rather than watery.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and savory depth when fried with the bacon.

The step that matters

Adding the milk mixture. Stirring gently keeps the potato pieces intact, and letting the mixture boil long enough cooks the raw flour so it does not taste pasty and thickens the chowder fully.

Swap the onion

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

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

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