Chowders
From the Schooner J. & E. Riggin


Clam Chowder
Serves 4

½ cup celery, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
1 large or two small potatoes, diced
¼ pound salt pork, scored OR 2 strips of bacon, diced
½ cup Saltines or oyster crackers, crumbled (it’s even better if you have day old biscuits to crumble)
1 16 oz. Bottled clam juice
1 pounds fresh clams or 2 cans sea clams
1 can evaporated milk
4 cups water
fresh pepper
corn meal

 Heat a medium sized stockpot on medium high heat.  Place the scored salt pork “face down” in the pot.  Render for several minutes and then add the onions and celery to the pot.  Cook until translucent.  Add the potatoes and crackers and cook for another few minutes.  Add the clam juice, evaporated milk and fresh pepper.  Cook on low heat, uncovered for at least one hour.  If you are using fresh clams, soak them in cold, salted water and sprinkle cornmeal on top of them.  When the broth is ready, rinse the fresh clams and add them to the pot.  Turn off the heat when the clams open and serve immediately.  If you are using canned clams, add them to the pot 5 minutes before serving. 

There are three ingredients that make this a very traditional recipe:  salt pork, day old biscuits or saltines and milk.  The more you use substitutes the less traditional your chowder will be.  You will notice that there is no butter and flour to thicken this soup.  If there were, then this would be called Cream of Clam Soup, not chowder. 

        Now that I’ve given you the basic recipe, I want to talk about some of the procedures and why they are important.  Once the salt pork is rendered it’s very important to give the onions and the celery time to become translucent.  If a little brown develops on the bottom of the pan, even better, just don’t burn it.  Brown is good, black is not!  This is what makes a flavorful soup.  Take time in each step at the beginning.   The same is true when you add the potatoes and the biscuits or saltines, let the bottom of the pan become a little brown before you add the water and the clam juice.  Usually I would have you add a little salt after the addition of each ingredient.  This step is not necessary in this recipe as the saltines and clam juice are already salted.   The reason that you add evaporated milk rather than fresh milk is that fresh milk will curdle – not so pretty or tasty.   It’s important to wait to add the clams (or any fish) until the end.  If you don’t you will have rubber bands in your chowder rather than clams.

        If you wish to create variations on this theme, this is a very versatile recipe.  Below are some of my favorites that I serve on the boat.


Salmon and Corn Chowder

Replace clams with 1 pound of salmon, bones and skin removed.
Remove corn kernels from the cob of two ears.
Add the cobs and the kernels to the stock at the beginning and add the salmon 10 minutes before serving.


Haddock Chowder

Replace clams with 1 pound of haddock, bones and skin removed.
Add the haddock 10 minutes before serving.


Leek and Lobster Chowder

Replace 1-cup onions with 1-cup leeks.
Replace clams with 2 Maine lobsters.

Add the whole lobsters to the stock at the beginning.  Remove as soon as their shells are bright red.  Allow all of the juice in the lobsters to drain into the stock pot.  Let them cool in a bowl.  When they are cool, remove the meat from the shells and pour the excess liquid back into the stockpot.  Cut the meat into ½ inch pieces and add to the pot just before serving.

        On top of any of these fancier chowders you could add non-traditional garnishes such as chopped scallions, chopped fresh herbs, crème fraiche (or sour cream), or home-made croutons.