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Potato Chowder

A creamy potato chowder with bacon or ham, onions, milk, butter, flour, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Potato Chowder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Scrub, peel, and cut the potatoes into half‑inch blocks.

  2. Chop the onion finely and cut the bacon or ham into small pieces.

Make the chowder

  1. Cook the meat and onions together in a pot, stirring occasionally, until pale brown.

  2. Add the potatoes and boiling water, then simmer for 20 minutes.

  3. Pour in the milk and bring the soup back to a boil.

  4. Mix the butter and flour together, then add to the soup while stirring constantly until boiling.

  5. Cook for 1‑2 minutes, then sprinkle in the parsley and serve.

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

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

  5. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Provide the starchy body of the chowder as they soften during simmering.
Butter and flour
Form a roux that thickens the soup as it comes to a boil.
Milk
Adds creaminess and richness to the broth.
Bacon or ham
Adds savory, browned meaty flavor to the base.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aroma as it cooks down with the meat.

The step that matters

Stirring the butter and flour into the soup. Adding the roux while stirring constantly keeps flour from clumping, so the soup thickens smoothly. Bringing it to a boil activates the starch so it thickens fully.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

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