New England Clam Chowder - looking for a recipe

[Trixxee]

Does anyone have a recipe for NE Clam Chowder they'd like to share? I'm looking at one right now in the newest Cooking Light and while it sounds good, thought I'd check around with you guys. I love to lighten things up in general, but I'm not too worried about the fat in one pot of soup if you've got a recipe that's heavier. That can be our splurge for the week.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Old Bay]

Bill & Jane's Compromised (Perfect) New England Clam Chowder
1/2 lb salt pork minced
1 C water
6 C potatoes, peeled, diced
1 C whole milk
salt and pepper to taste

4 slices bacon
2 large onions chopped
4 cans minced clams ( lucky you fresh)
2 pints half and half
1 tsp dried thyme
2 T Wondra flour mixed with some milk

Fry bacon and salt pork until crisp. Remove from fat. Add fat and liquid from clams to water and add potatoes and onions. Cook until potatoes are tender,adding liquid if necessary. Add milk, half and half, claims, salt, pepper, flour milk, and thyme.
Simmer for 20 minutes. Serve with crumbled bacon and salt pork on top. Top with purchased chowder crackers. Freezes well for 12 months. Make a big batch.

[bbally]

This is a blog I did last year near Christmas time. The recipe is in the blog with pictures. Maybe it will fit the bill for you?


Christmas Clam Chowder, New England Style

And so it was that my cell would ring! "Bob, I forgot to order my Christmas Clam Chowder from you guys." "It is a tradition and I have invited everyone over, I don't know what I am going to do? Can you help me?"

A elderly client of ours has ordered my New England Clam Chowder for years now. I had just figured they were moving onto something else this year when the order never came in for the stuff. Turns out life as a 78 year old had got her out of sync this year. A fall in November had broken her hip, she had just had surgery a week ago to remove the pins from the hip. This all combined to keep other things at the top of her mind and Chowder was not one of them.

Could I help her? I was reminded of an event last year I did a Christmas Dinner where a simple yes changed a couples entire evening. And so it was that I would somehow squeeze in a prep and finish for an old client to see that her tradition was kept alive!

Christmas Clam Chowder, New England Style!

Having lived in New England for a long time I learned a lot of cool dishes from the area. This recipe was adapted to offer the Christmas mosaic in its presentation.

Since I get a lot of e-mails for recipes, here is the recipe upfront, reduced from food service levels to home serving levels.

Christmas Clam Chowder:

2 Tbsp spoons butter or olive oil
1/4 cup flour
2 bacon strips
4 clove garlic minced
1 onion diced
2 carrots diced
1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
2 celery stalks diced
3 cups diced potato
4 cups clam broth or stock
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup half and half
1 cup heavy cream
1 pound chopped clam meat
salt, white pepper, and parsley for seasoning and finishing.

Ok a word about salt pepper and such, I don't do amounts, season and taste, season and taste. Just learning to do this will improve your food so much!

So render down the bacon in the pot you are going to do the chowder in. At the same time take a small sauté and make a blond roux.



The old six eye friend does it well, but your home range will do a great job as well. When the roux is completed set it aside for later use.

Next take all the vegetables, save the celery, and place it down in the bacon fat in the bottom of you stock or chowder pot.



Get the veggies sweating out in olive oil or a little butter. Then stir them around. Here is a good time to start seasoning your product!




Folks, we are doing this to remove water, and soften the vegetables. So move this trinity around and get everything coated and softening. In the mean time grab up the box chardonnay, a sauté and the celery to prepare the secret that makes the chowder special!



First pour in two cups Chardonnay, reduce by 1/3 and then add in the celery and one more cup of chardonnay and reduce by half. You may thicken with a little corn starch and water and then set it aside for later use.

Small Rant Time


Next we add in the clams, I like a pound of clams per gallon of finished product. I use chopped clam meat no bellies.



Then you need to fold this together with the trinity and bring it back to temp.



Once you get the clams up to temperature then you fold in the blond roux you made earlier. Get this mixed into and dispersed well.



Now add the wet products, so the buttermilk, half and half, and the heavy cream. And stir till up to temperature. I like to bring mine up to 185 degrees F at this point. I don't want to break the milks by allowing out of control heating.



Last we add in the Chardonnay reduction and the celery. Bring back to temp and if the roux did not do its job completely you can thicken however you like, reduction (a favorite but time consuming), Signature Secrets, Flour and Water, or my personal favorite egg yolks. Take two egg yolks and stir them, temper them with some of the hot chowder and add to the main pot. Mix and heat until thickened. Serve this up with chowder crackers, celery and carrot sticks.

Just wanted to post a pic of a real nice gift of cheese this year, I received from my boss.



I hope each of you will reflect on how you positively affected someone's life this holiday season, if you can not come up with a name, lets work on that in 2007 starting today!

Til we talk again, Have a very merry Christmas!
Chef Bob Ballantyne
The Cowboy and The Rose Catering
Grand Junction, Colorado, USA

[pjcooks]

Bill, your recipe is almost identical to mine. Proves you don't need to be from New England to make New England chowder!!

PJ

[cjs]

and here's one more - this is from a series of books from the 70s and have been making it since then.


NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER

3 cups clams -- or 3 doz. hard-shell or littleneck
1 cup clam juice
2 medium boiling potatoes -- peeled
2 ounces lean slab bacon w/rind removed -- 1/4" dice
1 T. +4 tsp. butter
1 cup onions -- finely chopped
2 cups milk
1/2 cup light cream
1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Cook potato dice in enough boiling water to cover completely & cook briskly til tender but still somewhat resistant to the bite. Drain, reserving 1/2 cups of the cooking liquid.

Drop the bacon dice into boiling water to cover completely & boil for 2 min. Drain, pat completely dry w/paper towels.

In a 2- to 3-qt. saucepan, fry bacon & 1 T. of butter over moderate heat, stirring frequently till crisp & brown & have rendered all their fat. Transfer the dice to paper towels.

Add onions to the fat remaining in the pan & stirring frequently, cook for ~5 min. over moderate heat til soft & translucent but not brown.
Stir in the clam juice, the 1/2 cup of potato cooking liquid & the finely chopped clams. Reduce the heat to low, cover tightly & simmer for 10 min.
Stir in potatoes & continue to simmer covered for 3 min. longer.

Meanwhile, in a separate pan, warm the milk & cream over moderate heat till just simmering. Pour into the simmering clam mixture & mix well.
Stir in the thyme, salt, a few grindings of pepper & the bacon. Taste for seasoning.

Ladle the chowder into 4 heated soup plates, place a tsp. of butter on top of each serving, and serve at once.

NOTES : Some N.E. traditionalists insist that the clam chowder improves in flavor if, after cooking, it is allowed to rest off the heat but un-refrigerated for about an hour and then reheated very briefly just before it is served.

Recipe By :Foods of the World, Time-Life Series, 1970
Serving Size : 4

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time to start making this again!

[Trixxee]

Thank you all!