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Fish Chowder

A creamy soup made with fish, potatoes, milk, butter, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Fish Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Fry the fish pieces until cooked.

  2. Add the water used to cook the fish to a pot.

Cook the chowder

  1. Bring the water to a boil and add the sliced potatoes.

  2. Cook the potatoes until tender.

  3. Season with salt, pepper, and butter.

  4. Add the cooked fish and 1 pint of milk.

  5. Stir in a pinch of sugar before serving.

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

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

  5. Fish + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,432 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Soften as they cook and thicken the broth with their starch.
Milk
Adds creaminess and richness to the broth.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth mouthfeel.
Fish pieces
Provide the main flavour and protein of the chowder.

The step that matters

Cook the potatoes until tender. Potatoes that are undercooked stay firm and starchy in the broth, while overcooking makes them break down unevenly. Simmering gently until a knife slides through helps them release starch and hold their shape.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, pepper, butter, milk, sugar):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Asparagusfits less well
  4. Tomatofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, pepper, butter, milk, sugar. 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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