ISO Clam Chowder Recipe

Got a good one? Those that I have tried are either lacking in flavor or have too much bacon.

I usually just 'wing it'....if you have a recipe you kind of like, just leave out most of the bacon. Last time I made it I started with just a bit of salt pork, cut into small dice, and browned until rendered & crispy. It's not smoky tasting like bacon.

Salt pork? Hadn't thought of that. I have a chunk in the freezer. The trouble is I don't know what good clam chowder is supposed to taste like because I am not a fan of seafood so I never eat it. Tried a recipe from Food Network that went down the drain. Fortunately I only added a few clams to a sample size. I froze the rest and I can buy clam juice. We had some at a restaurant the other day that reminded me of Campbell's Cream of chicken soup that had clams added to it. DH liked it. Roomie did not.

Do you want the white or red clam chowder recipe? I have a fabulous white one.

I have a recipe book called Long Island Seafood Cookbook that was originally published in 1939. It has a chapter about chowder. Taking a quick look over them, it looks like all of them use salt pork. I didn't see any that used bacon. Here is the Basic Chowder, Peconic Bay. I will print the Note first.

Note: this basic chowder recipe is a good standard for all chowders. For tomato chowder add only 1 cup luke-warm water a pint of stewed tomatoes. For a milk chowder, a pint of Grade A milk. For an oyster, mussel, crab or lobster chowder-whether tomato or milk-simply substitute the desired shellfish for the clams, but always use the liquor of the shellfish; in the case of crab or lobster use clam broth and always put in some shell

BASIC CHOWDER, PECONIC BAY

2 Tablebspoon. cubed or chopped pork salt
1 Tbsp. bacon fat
1 onion, minced
1 shallot, minced
2 sprigs parsley
4 cold boiled potatoes, diced
2 Cups water in which the potatoes have been boiled
1 qt. clam broth
pinchof thyme
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. paprika
pinch cayenne pepper
24 medium sized hard shell Clams
3 Tbsp. flour
1 pint water, lukewarm

Fry the salt pork in the bacon fat. add the onion, shallot, parsley (put through chopper with stems), and cook until the onion is golden brown. add the potatoes, the potato water, the seasoning and the lams. Heat through. Blend flour with lukewarm water and add to the chowder. Bring to a boil, simmer below boiling point 10 minutes before serving.

Thanks Norm! That looks good! I will give it a try. The last recipe I tried didn't use clam juice. Maybe that is why it tasted blah.