Recipe Requested Clam Chowder

[daveb]

I need a killer clam chowder recipe in next couple days. Bacon, cream, sherry, I don't know how I've not done it before. Oh, and the clams....

 

[panda]

plus onion shallot leeks garlic onion celery potato bay leaf thyme parsley chives celery seed worcestershire clam.juice

 

[Bert2368]

New England (white, creamy), Manhattan (red, tomatoey), Rhode Island (clearish)? Any preferences... What clams are available?

Mom was from NYC, she usually did New England for midwesterners, often did a spicy Manhattan for herself.

 

[panda]

and mix of coriander, green&white peppercorn

 

[refcast]

If you use clam juice from the clams . . . don't over steam / cook them. . . the minerals from the shell get dissolved and it will taste more chalky.

 

[M1k3]

If you use clam juice from the clams . . . don't over steam / cook them. . . the minerals from the shell get dissolved and it will taste more chalky.

The clams open up and out come the shells.

 

[Bodine]

I am lazy on this one. I use canned chowder as a base, Snows or Cambells, then add heavy cream, canned clams and diced precooked potatoes, and butter.

 

[NO ChoP!]

If you use enough bacon, everything can taste good.

 

[daveb]

I'm thinking of using lardons instead of bacon to class it up a bit. And I have some fried prosciutto for garnish. Now to get the soup part.....

 

[WJR]

Here's mine. The lardons would be a welcomed swap. It's really the sherry that pops here:

4 slices of bacon fried, remove from grease and saute

1 small onion
1 stalk of celery

add 2 cans clams(do not drain)
pepper
1/2 tsp salt
3 medium potatoes diced
2 cans chicken broth

cook 15 minutes

mix 2-4 tablespoons flour with water add to broth and add 1/2 pint half
and half 1/2 pint milk

add sherry if desired before serving

 

[tomsch]

I also use sherry and it really seems to add something. Of course good bacon is also a must-have.

 

[Michi]

I just made some using Kenji's recipe. Turned out really nice. Pics are over in the What's Cooking forum.

 

[outofgamut]

I just made some using Kenji's recipe. Turned out really nice. Pics are over in the What's Cooking forum.

Can you ever go wrong with anything Kenji does?

 

[Michi]

Can you ever go wrong with anything Kenji does?

So far, I haven't. Not everything has been to my taste. But that's me, not Kenji. I've learned a lot by watching his videos and, when I try something and it isn't quite to my liking, I can always tweak it next time (which, incidentally, is something I do, no matter whose recipe I'm following—I only get better at cooking by remembering what worked and what didn't, and adjusting each time I prepare that same dish again).

 

[Nagakin]

We make a base with bacon (use all the grease), leeks, onions, celery, butter, AP flour, clam broth, herbs. Should still be thicc like dough or cold, quality cheese sauce. Cook through though or it'll be grainy. From there you can cool it for later or use it right away.

Add clams to the base, fill the pot with half and half to texture and mix with a whisk. Spice and once it reaches temperature it's done. A gallon cap full of tobasco per pot for the acid adds a lot. Use the best pepper you can get. It's a clean and creamy chowder that I really love. Really simple and focuses on the clams without much else.

Customer photo from Google

 

[McMan]

^^this is the technique--the old school way.
That looks like a nice chowder too!—great consistency IMO. We part ways with the leeks/celery/herbs/tabasco, but I’m a chowder curmudgeon

This is too long a post, but it brought back good memories... When I was cooking, I was in charge of making the chowders. Probably made ~2500 gallons a summer--white (aka “New England”), clear (aka “Rhode Island”), and red (aka “tourists only”, err “Manhattan”)--and this wasn’t much compared to places that sold that in a week—or a day!

I like clear--It’s only clam broth, chopped quahogs, potatoes, and salt. That’s it. It’s perfect. It’s also a tough sell anywhere outside of RI and depends on access to live clams to be any good.

Add strained canned diced tomatoes to RI chowder, and that’s Manhattan clam chowder, which legend has it was also invented in RI by Italian/Portuguese communities.

Then there’s white. This is where the debates happen… thin or thick, milk or cream, bacon or no, adds like celery or herbs. Some places will serve with butter on top, which is nice.

Some places make this thick enough to stand a spoon up straight, floury, all cream, all spuds. For me, too thick DQs a chowder. I like just thick enough to coat a spoon.
The old school (1700-1800s) recipes use salt pork not bacon. This was basically our recipe except we didn’t use meat, and sweated the onions in butter instead. I like this—also makes it non-meat-eater friendly.

--render salt pork (cut salt pork like lardons—1/4”x1”)
--add onions, sweat (don’t brown)
--add flour (cook lightly but don’t color)
--add clam broth (low simmer to cook off flour taste)
--add potatoes
--add milk/cream when potatoes are nearly done
--add clams when potatoes are done

If you go white, here’s some things to think about:

--Milk/Cream %
Some people go straight cream (thick, sweet of the cream highlights the sweet of the clams)
Some people go straight milk (thin, more clammy/briny).
My preference—more milk than cream ¾ milk, ¼ cream. (We never used half-half, but I think that had to do with pricing…)

--Spuds should be red or white potatoes. Or Yukon golds work. Rectangles never cubes. Russets breakdown too easily too quickly (though some places use exclusively russets because of this). Peeled. Those magazine photos with red potatoes with the skins on are stunt chowder.

--Clams should be quahogs (aka "chowder clams"). Steam em and save the broth (strain multiple times, let settle (no amount of straining gets all the grit out). Add clam juice, or just use clam juice cut with water instead of broth.

--Canned clams = use bacon (covers some of that canny taste that clams have).
Fresh clams = I vote no bacon, can overpower. This is a debate though.

Equally important...
Always these, never those flat wannabe saltine ones:

 

[panda]

personally not a fan of clams, but love corn chowder. cream and chicken stock based with lots of bacon and thickened with bechamel. garnished with scallions.

 

[DavidPF]

Can you ever go wrong with anything Kenji does?

I think it's helpful to distinguish between his research and his cooking. When he doesn't know why something is the way it is, he's far too often willing to just make up an answer that superficially sounds convincing. When he's actually deciding how he wants to cook something and what he wants to put in it - when he drops the fake-science-y and gets down to business - I like the results.
(Not all his science is bogus, but often enough he starts an experiment that's clearly going to take a hundred steps, and he gets as far as step 5 and then declares it settled.)

 

[AT5760]

Living in New England for a decade, I had my fair share of chowder. What @McMan is describing is the direction that I would go if you are using fresh clams. I prefer a thinner NE style over RI style - too thick is a big turn off.

Or you could take a sharp turn and do a fish chowder (my personal favorite). Think clam chowder except with whitefish, small shrimp, bay scallops, and Portuguese sausage. Once a month I seriously consider trying to order a frozen gallon and have it shipped to me.

 

[Bear]

^^this is the technique--the old school way.
That looks like a nice chowder too!—great consistency IMO. We part ways with the leeks/celery/herbs/tabasco, but I’m a chowder curmudgeon

This is too long a post, but it brought back good memories... When I was cooking, I was in charge of making the chowders. Probably made ~2500 gallons a summer--white (aka “New England”), clear (aka “Rhode Island”), and red (aka “tourists only”, err “Manhattan”)--and this wasn’t much compared to places that sold that in a week—or a day!

I like clear--It’s only clam broth, chopped quahogs, potatoes, and salt. That’s it. It’s perfect. It’s also a tough sell anywhere outside of RI and depends on access to live clams to be any good.

Add strained canned diced tomatoes to RI chowder, and that’s Manhattan clam chowder, which legend has it was also invented in RI by Italian/Portuguese communities.

Then there’s white. This is where the debates happen… thin or thick, milk or cream, bacon or no, adds like celery or herbs. Some places will serve with butter on top, which is nice.

Some places make this thick enough to stand a spoon up straight, floury, all cream, all spuds. For me, too thick DQs a chowder. I like just thick enough to coat a spoon.
The old school (1700-1800s) recipes use salt pork not bacon. This was basically our recipe except we didn’t use meat, and sweated the onions in butter instead. I like this—also makes it non-meat-eater friendly.

--render salt pork (cut salt pork like lardons—1/4”x1”)
--add onions, sweat (don’t brown)
--add flour (cook lightly but don’t color)
--add clam broth (low simmer to cook off flour taste)
--add potatoes
--add milk/cream when potatoes are nearly done
--add clams when potatoes are done

If you go white, here’s some things to think about:

--Milk/Cream %
Some people go straight cream (thick, sweet of the cream highlights the sweet of the clams)
Some people go straight milk (thin, more clammy/briny).
My preference—more milk than cream ¾ milk, ¼ cream. (We never used half-half, but I think that had to do with pricing…)

--Spuds should be red or white potatoes. Or Yukon golds work. Rectangles never cubes. Russets breakdown too easily too quickly (though some places use exclusively russets because of this). Peeled. Those magazine photos with red potatoes with the skins on are stunt chowder.

--Clams should be quahogs (aka "chowder clams"). Steam em and save the broth (strain multiple times, let settle (no amount of straining gets all the grit out). Add clam juice, or just use clam juice cut with water instead of broth.

--Canned clams = use bacon (covers some of that canny taste that clams have).
Fresh clams = I vote no bacon, can overpower. This is a debate though.

Equally important...
Always these, never those flat wannabe saltine ones:
View attachment 117185

Real close to Mom's at the resturant, salt pork and thyme where the keys

 

[daveb]

I think it's helpful to distinguish between his research and his cooking. When he doesn't know why something is the way it is, he's far too often willing to just make up....

How does it feel?

 

[DavidPF]

How does it feel?

It feels like fanboys are wrong no matter what the topic is.

Especially when they do Kenji-like pseudo-thoughtful experiments with something they've just bought, and declare it excellent despite obvious bias. Misen, TF, exact same process.

 

[DavidPF]

"You can't bash Cutco knives until you've owned them, there's something special about them, you wouldn't understand"

"You can't bash TF knives until ..."
blah blah blah.

BS is BS, regardless of price.

 

[daveb]

How does it feel?

Sry, I meant how does it feel to put up your first relevant, timely and spot on post?

Kenji can get pretty defensive, pretty fast.
Google search the site for when the Misen, "the Holy Grail of knives debuted.

 

[Bert2368]

^^this is the technique--the old school way.
That looks like a nice chowder too!—great consistency IMO. We part ways with the leeks/celery/herbs/tabasco, but I’m a chowder curmudgeon

This is too long a post, but it brought back good memories... When I was cooking, I was in charge of making the chowders. Probably made ~2500 gallons a summer--white (aka “New England”), clear (aka “Rhode Island”), and red (aka “tourists only”, err “Manhattan”)--and this wasn’t much compared to places that sold that in a week—or a day!

I like clear--It’s only clam broth, chopped quahogs, potatoes, and salt. That’s it. It’s perfect. It’s also a tough sell anywhere outside of RI and depends on access to live clams to be any good.

Add strained canned diced tomatoes to RI chowder, and that’s Manhattan clam chowder, which legend has it was also invented in RI by Italian/Portuguese communities.

Then there’s white. This is where the debates happen… thin or thick, milk or cream, bacon or no, adds like celery or herbs. Some places will serve with butter on top, which is nice.

Some places make this thick enough to stand a spoon up straight, floury, all cream, all spuds. For me, too thick DQs a chowder. I like just thick enough to coat a spoon.
The old school (1700-1800s) recipes use salt pork not bacon. This was basically our recipe except we didn’t use meat, and sweated the onions in butter instead. I like this—also makes it non-meat-eater friendly.

--render salt pork (cut salt pork like lardons—1/4”x1”)
--add onions, sweat (don’t brown)
--add flour (cook lightly but don’t color)
--add clam broth (low simmer to cook off flour taste)
--add potatoes
--add milk/cream when potatoes are nearly done
--add clams when potatoes are done

If you go white, here’s some things to think about:

--Milk/Cream %
Some people go straight cream (thick, sweet of the cream highlights the sweet of the clams)
Some people go straight milk (thin, more clammy/briny).
My preference—more milk than cream ¾ milk, ¼ cream. (We never used half-half, but I think that had to do with pricing…)

--Spuds should be red or white potatoes. Or Yukon golds work. Rectangles never cubes. Russets breakdown too easily too quickly (though some places use exclusively russets because of this). Peeled. Those magazine photos with red potatoes with the skins on are stunt chowder.

--Clams should be quahogs (aka "chowder clams"). Steam em and save the broth (strain multiple times, let settle (no amount of straining gets all the grit out). Add clam juice, or just use clam juice cut with water instead of broth.

--Canned clams = use bacon (covers some of that canny taste that clams have).
Fresh clams = I vote no bacon, can overpower. This is a debate though.

Equally important...
Always these, never those flat wannabe saltine ones:
View attachment 117185

You are VERY much in line with my Mama's version of New England clam chowder. Respect...

 

[ian]

^^this is the technique--the old school way.
That looks like a nice chowder too!—great consistency IMO. We part ways with the leeks/celery/herbs/tabasco, but I’m a chowder curmudgeon

This is too long a post, but it brought back good memories... When I was cooking, I was in charge of making the chowders. Probably made ~2500 gallons a summer--white (aka “New England”), clear (aka “Rhode Island”), and red (aka “tourists only”, err “Manhattan”)--and this wasn’t much compared to places that sold that in a week—or a day!

I like clear--It’s only clam broth, chopped quahogs, potatoes, and salt. That’s it. It’s perfect. It’s also a tough sell anywhere outside of RI and depends on access to live clams to be any good.

Add strained canned diced tomatoes to RI chowder, and that’s Manhattan clam chowder, which legend has it was also invented in RI by Italian/Portuguese communities.

Then there’s white. This is where the debates happen… thin or thick, milk or cream, bacon or no, adds like celery or herbs. Some places will serve with butter on top, which is nice.

Some places make this thick enough to stand a spoon up straight, floury, all cream, all spuds. For me, too thick DQs a chowder. I like just thick enough to coat a spoon.
The old school (1700-1800s) recipes use salt pork not bacon. This was basically our recipe except we didn’t use meat, and sweated the onions in butter instead. I like this—also makes it non-meat-eater friendly.

--render salt pork (cut salt pork like lardons—1/4”x1”)
--add onions, sweat (don’t brown)
--add flour (cook lightly but don’t color)
--add clam broth (low simmer to cook off flour taste)
--add potatoes
--add milk/cream when potatoes are nearly done
--add clams when potatoes are done

If you go white, here’s some things to think about:

--Milk/Cream %
Some people go straight cream (thick, sweet of the cream highlights the sweet of the clams)
Some people go straight milk (thin, more clammy/briny).
My preference—more milk than cream ¾ milk, ¼ cream. (We never used half-half, but I think that had to do with pricing…)

--Spuds should be red or white potatoes. Or Yukon golds work. Rectangles never cubes. Russets breakdown too easily too quickly (though some places use exclusively russets because of this). Peeled. Those magazine photos with red potatoes with the skins on are stunt chowder.

--Clams should be quahogs (aka "chowder clams"). Steam em and save the broth (strain multiple times, let settle (no amount of straining gets all the grit out). Add clam juice, or just use clam juice cut with water instead of broth.

--Canned clams = use bacon (covers some of that canny taste that clams have).
Fresh clams = I vote no bacon, can overpower. This is a debate though.

Equally important...
Always these, never those flat wannabe saltine ones:
View attachment 117185

This appeals to the New Englander in me.

 

[DavidPF]

Kenji can get pretty defensive, pretty fast.

It's a more widespread trait than a person might initially expect.

 

[riverrat]

I learned a lot from this book:
50 Chowders by Jasper White