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Corn Chowder

A hearty soup made with corn, potatoes, onions, buttered crackers, milk, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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 ↓

Corn Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Fry the onions in 2 tablespoons of butter in a soup kettle.

  2. Remove the onions with a skimmer, leaving the browned butter.

Cook the chowder

  1. Layer corn cut from the cob, buttered crackers, and sliced parboiled potatoes in the kettle, seasoning as you go.

  2. Cover with boiling water and cook gently for about 40 minutes after it begins to boil.

Finish and serve

  1. Heat the milk in a separate vessel, stir in 1 tablespoon of butter rolled in flour, and add the beaten egg.

  2. Pour the milk into the tureen, then add the chowder, stirring continuously.

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. Onion + potatotop 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. Corn + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together938 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Green corn
Provides the main body of sweetness and the bulk of the chowder.
Potatoes
Break down slightly to thicken the broth and add soft, starchy body.
Butter rolled in flour
Forms a roux that thickens the milk and gives the chowder a smooth texture.
Milk
Adds creaminess and a mild, rich flavour to the finished chowder.
Beaten egg
Enriches and thickens the milk mixture when stirred in gently.
Boston crackers
Absorb the buttery broth and soften, adding body and thickening.

The step that matters

Adding the milk and egg mixture. Pouring hot milk mixed with egg into the chowder too quickly, or without constant stirring, can curdle the egg and leave the texture grainy. Continuous stirring spreads the heat and keeps the mixture smooth.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against corn, potato, butter, milk, parsley, pepper, egg. 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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