Niagara Visitor wrote:I make seafood chowder a lot. I started out with a clam chowder recipe very similar to this one, but have never boiled the potatoes first. I peel, and dice (med-large) the potatoes, sometimes cook them separately, but use the cooking water in the chowder. I like to make my own fish stock, sometimes using the carcasses of fish that my sons caught, or lately I found a grocery store that sells the heads of fresh salmon for next to nothing, and I make stock from those. I like to use a small bag of frozen seafood "critters" in the chowder.
My seafood chowder, like my potato salad is generally a spontaneous dish. Use what you have on hand, but that is after many years of practicing.
Sounds delicious, too, Lore. Loved how you use the potato water, as I'd do that, too. I sure miss the days when you could ask for stuff like fish heads, beef bones and things like that at the store -- they almost always just gave it to you free of charge, too. I'd gladly pay for them today but of course, most of the meat most groceries sell comes pre-cut for the most part.
I also miss having a "real" butcher in every store -- people who would bone a whole chicken for you, butterfly anything you wanted butterflied, remove the chine bone from a rib roast, etc. I think I told the story of asking the "butcher" (a/k/a the man who worked in the meat department) to butterfly a London broil I'd picked up. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights and first said, after quite a long delay, "They're kind of busy back here" (I could hear a pin drop back there so I just stood there smiling). He then said, "I'll give it a try." He seemed all excited when he came out and handed it to me, saying, "Boy, I hadn't done that in years!" I could tell right away that I could've done a better job but said, "Wow, it looks fantastic. Thanks so much for saving me the time." I hoped my comments helped him get his confidence back prior to the next customer asking him to do such a simple task. Plus I was grateful, too, that he'd tried.
Now if I was to go to Whole Foods or another of two owner-owned gourmet groceries in N.O., they have real butchers who can not only do just about anything, but those types of things are out in the meat cases already done! But of course, you pay a lot more for everything in those stores, particularly meat. I usually reserve those funds for a special dinner or a holiday if I go there at all these days.
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"Dad, How come we cant eat chicken on Friday, but we can eat Eggs?" 
......( we abstain from meat on good friday ) 
