New England clam chowder: Creamy, can be pretty tasty, but often a bit heavy. Too many folks add excess potato chunks. Still, I’ll eat it.
Manhattan Clam Chowder: Rich tomato tang with the clam taste, no cream. Yum!
Rhode Island Clam Chowder: Like Manhattan, but without the tomato. A tasty clear broth. I like it.
Any other varieties out there? I sadly seldom encounter Manhattan style anymore, and Rhode Island style is vanishingly rare.
Rhode Island is my absolute favorite. Bracing broth, bits of potato and clams- not too goopy and thick. Yum.
Rhode Island is probably my favorite, but NE is good as well. Manhattan does not deserve the name.
I knew a cook that made a southwestern clam chowder with (iirc) corn, peppers, tomatoes, and a nice kick at the end.
My personal favorite is the manhattan with a few drops of dave’s insanity sauce. The heat cleans up the occasionally too sweet finish.
Manhattan style is the only type that is edible. New England clam chowder is vile.
New England style is the only type that is edible. Manhattan clam chowder is vile.
[Danny Vermin]My mother served me New England style clam chowder once. ONCE![/DV]
Snows canned New England Clam Chowder, when jazzed up with a big hunk of butter, a dash each of worcestershire sauce, garlic salt and dill weed, (and make sure to only add about a quarter of a can of milk, NOT a full can!!!) is about the tastiest canned soup I have ever had…
It (when prepared the way I described above) is better than 90% of the seafood places around the country make.
If you like New England Clam Chowder, give it a shot, I am certain you will be happy you did!!
ETA
Ivar’s also makes a good chowder, its sold at Costco in the refrigerated section, but it is overpriced, IMHO.
Nope, you got that backwards, New England style is the only edible clam chowder, Manhattan style is vile, unpalatable crap and is an abomination unto Nuggan
I never had RI style- sounds great! But I like both Manhattan style and New England style- add Tabasco to both!
Excuse me, there’s no such thing as having “excess potato chunks” in clam chowder. In fact, my main problem with Manhattan Clam Chowder is the lack of potatoes to absorb the broth.
Anyway, while I overwhelmingly prefer New England Clam Chowder, I don’t think Manhattan Clam Chowder is too bad. It just seems that if you’re going to cook a tomato broth with onions and spices, just adding clams seems pretty half-assed. You might as well go all the way and add some shellfish and fish chunks and make either cioppino or bouillabaisse.
Great New England clam chowder should be buttery and thin as milk, not floury, pasty and thick. Love the former, hate the latter.
Sounds like a cheap diner imitation, made in a hurry.
Here’s my chowder recipe. It’s a seafood chowder rather than straight clam.
(1) Pound bacon
(1) 51 ounce can clams
(1) Pound raw shrimp
(1) Pound scallops
(4) 14 ounce cans chicken broth
(2) Cups finely chopped onion
(2) Cups finely chipped celery
(2) Large turnips peeled and cut into small cubes
(1) Quart heavy cream
(1) Teaspoon dried thyme
(1) Teaspoon Xanthan gum
Xanthan gum is a low carbohydrate viscosity modifier produced by fermentation. It’s a good thickener that can be used hot or cold, and doesn’t break down so can be added any time.
Salt and Pepper to taste
I start by cutting the pound of bacon into small pieces. It’s easier to do this if you leave it in the one piece it comes out of the package in. Once it’s diced, fry it and set it aside, reserving the grease.
Sauté the onion and celery in some of the bacon grease until soft. Take the onions and celery off the heat and add the juice from the clams, the turnips, thyme, salt and pepper.
Use a stick blender to blend the xanthan gum in with the chicken broth. I usually break it up into four portions and blend it into one can of broth at a time. The texture changes as you blend it. I usually blend around twenty seconds or so. After blending the gum in add the broth to the onion/celery/clam juice etc. mixture.
Add your shrimp and scallops to the broth. I use large scallops quartered and small shrimp, but whatever you prefer, knock yourselves out.
Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the turnips are soft, 10 to 15 minutes or so at a low simmer.
Remove from the heat and add the clams, the bacon, and the heavy cream. Reheat over low heat until hot and you’re good to go.
Don’t get me wrong, I like a good tomato soup and all, but clams just get lost in it. All Manhattan-style is, is tomato soup with a little texture. If I want clam chowder, I want New England clam chowder.
Ah, is that what that is? I had that in a restaurant once, and was surprised to find there was a kind that wasn’t New England nor Manhattan. It wasn’t bad, but I like New England better.
Bill Door, that sounds delicious, but a lot more work than I’d go to for soup.
Meaning he stopped reading when it was clear the first instruction wasn’t: “Open one can of clam chowder” 
I haven’t been able to pin it totally down yet, but the original would probably be without either milk or tomatoes, making it the “Rhode Island” kind. I can find a great book about Hotel Food from the 1880s that indicates the “Boston Clam Chowder” (with milk) is the older of the latter two kinds. The kind with tomatoes is the “Coney Island” type, morphing into Manahattan.
Where would on go these days to get a clear broth “Rhode Island” clam chowder?
If only there was some clue…
Perhaps on the Isle of Rhodes in the Mediterranian sea?
I have never heard of RI clam chowdah until this thread. I am now anxious to try it since I like both Manhattan and New England styles of it.
However, I am wondering if Manhattan clam chowder got its start as oyster chowder, considering that the waters around New York were once the most productive oyster beds in the world…