Clam chowder varieties........

In all honesty, it’s hard to justify too much more than that when you’re cooking for one. If you’re cooking for the two dozen or so people that it looks like that recipe would feed, then it might be worth the effort.

Hey, Outer Banks clam chowder! Clear broth, but thickened with flour, and with lots of pepper.

How’d I miss that, on that trip to Ocrakoke and Cape Hattaras? I think I got distracted by the She-Crab soup!

New England was always my favorite, but having not been to St. Augustine forever, I recently ‘found’ Minorcan chowder, named for the minorcan pepper used to flavor it, which is a spicy pepper unlike any I’ve had. Unique, spicy, and flavorful, but otherwise similar to Manhattan chowder:

Most of the “original” seafood chowders were made of fish and a ship’s biscuit. Thus, the flour.

I’ve only ever tasted clam chowder in RI and I have to say that it is possibly the most orgasmic foodstuff ever to pass my lips.

That and clamcakes.

We don’t have chowder in the UK, at least not the way it should be. I’ve had my pals send me cans from RI but to be honest it’s not a patch on the proper stuff

One chef used to use up all the old fish in his soup of the day- think he called it “Jerusalem Chowder”. It was basically the same as Manhattan chowder, tomato based, but he used Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes) and canned artichoke hearts.

Didn’t I also see somewhere that the clear RI Chowder is sometimes also served with a sidecar of half and half, or maybe it was evaporated milk… maybe it was just milk or cream? IIRC, it was customary for the host to provide it as an add-in to the clear chowder, according to preference.

Supposedly, in at least one of the New England states, it is illegal to advertise Manhattan style as “chowder”.

This may be an urban legend…

You’re right about that, it’s way too much effort for a few people, but it freezes up nicely and I usually divide it into 5 aliquots, having one right away and keeping the rest frozen until needed. It’s hard to make it for one or two people because a trip to the store to buy 3 ounces of shrimp or scallops is a waste of time. My wife always wonders why my soups are so much better than hers. She hasn’t internalized that I don’t mind spending 4 hours time and $50.00 worth of ingredients to make a cauldron of soup.

Clam chowder is madewith 5 ingredients:
-clams
-potatoes
-salt pork
-onions
-milk.
DO NOT add: chopped celery,it will add an unpleasant flavor. DO NOT thicken with flour, it will add an unpleasant flavor.

Tomato does not belong in clam chowder, therefore “Manhattan”-style is a pretender with no legitimacy or culinary value. If you like a sort of clammy tomato soup this may be just the ticket for you.

I am fond of a New England-style seafood chowder containing a goodly amount of haddock, clam, potato plus assorted other sea creatures that may wander in.

I would try this alleged “Rhode Island”-style chowder, hoping that it is not to New England clam chowder as the Pawtucket PawSox are to the Boston Red Sox.

I use both, to wide acclaim.

What, no butter? An abomination, I say.

Boy, I didn’t make this Jerusalem Chowder sound so good from my brief description, when it was in fact one of my favorite chowders, in general. The “old fish” was relative to a working kitchen. The fish wasn’t bad, it was just past its peak freshness, it usually consisted of day old Fish from the previous night’s specials. Maybe some big chunks of nice mahi, or swordfish, salmon, shrimp, or tiny bay scallops- whatever needed to be “tossed” because of “cosmetic” or “freshness” issues was repurposed and went into the chowder… supremely wasteful to toss hundreds of dollars worth of seafood and not good at all for the bottom line. As I said, it was a very rich and slightly spicy, san marzano canned tomato based, manhattan chowder that substituted jeruusalem artichokes for potatoes, and had the texturous addition of slightly lemony preserved artichoke hearts. Very yummy, the sunchokes really did something for it that was quite ineffable. And I mostly loved it because it was a premium seafood bonanza, big chunks of fish and whatever…it was a seafood grabbag.

Actually, this tradition would seem to me to be the evolution and tradition of NE chowder. All Chowder in past times was probably RI “clear chowder” and the milk or cream from the family cow (if you had one) was probably added as a condiment. Much like milk in Tea… Oh, those crazy Brits!

I use celery in the Manhattan version. Love it. My only reservation is that bacon be cooked first and then have the fatty parts removed.

I like both New England and Manhattan versions but it’s hard to find the Manhattan which is really easy to make so that’s what I usually make.

Manhattan Clam Chowder

¼ cup bacon pieces (trim off fat or it won’t be spongy in soup)
¼ cup minced onion
(2) 7 oz cans of minced or chopped clams drained (reserve liquor)
2 cups diced pared potatoes
1 cup water
1/3 cup diced celery
1 can (16oz) diced tomatoes
2 tsp. snipped parsley
Pinch of basil (optional)
1 tsp. salt (bacon already has salt so add this as needed)
¼ tsp. thyme
1/8 tsp. pepper

In large saucepan, cook and stir bacon and onion until bacon is crisp and onion is tender. Stir in reserved clam liquor, potatoes, water and celery. Cook uncovered until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Add clams, tomatoes and seasonings. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally.

If this is going to be frozen for future use then undercook potatoes so that the re-heating process does not overcook them.

Saute 1/2 of a large yellow onion in butter, set aside.
Cook 1 lb of bacon, crispy, drain, set aside, eat 3 or 4 peices while cooking.
Use thin skinned potatos, like Yukon Gold or Finnish, don’t peel them just wash and dice into 1 inch peices. Do not use Russetts they go to mush too fast.
Slice several sticks of celery into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces, set aside.
You will also need 1 quart of real Half & Half, not low fat.
And 1 can of nibblet corn.

Boil potatos for about 15 minutes, firm but forkable.
Drain potatos. Crumble in bacon, add sauted onion, add celery, add corn, pour in all of the half & half. (if you don’t like your celery firm, saute it with the onions in step 1).
Reheat to just under boil. Salt and pepper to taste. Potatos absorb salt so I add about a teaspoon of coarse kosher salt, I grind in fresh pepper.
Add milk if you don’t have enough broth.

Once everything is warm again add the clams and just bring the whole thing back up to temp, serve with good bread. Add shrimp if desired, top with a pat of butter.

Notes: Canned clams are already cooked and tender, that’s why you add them last. I learned this from the owner of a seafood restuarant here in the Pacific NW. They have a large pot of chowder minus clams in the kitchen and when someone orders chowder the clams go into a small pot of chowder for heating right before serving. The clams stay tender. If you cook them too long the texture changes and you have little firm tasteless clam chunks in the chowder.

If you find the broth too thin the best way to thicken is with instant potato buds/flakes, pour in a cup, stir and wait. Add more if needed. It works better than using flour, it won’t clump and it’s flavor is potato.

About ‘Low Fat’ Half & Half. There is no such thing, it is actually skim milk with artificial thickeners. Probably worse for you than the milk fat you are going to get from real half & half.

A generous dollop of hot sauce is also very good in the NE version, especially if whomever made it didn’t make it too thick and goopy.

My issue with all varieties is not enough clam bits from the mass producers.