New England Clam Chowdah (yessah)
Before the whining starts, and in my spare time, here’s Friday’s Recipe. Gitarcarver will be all over this one.
New England Clam Chowder
You’ll need:
4 dozen little neck or cherry stone clams, scrubbed
4 rashers of thick cut bacon, sliced
1 large onion, diced
Kosher salt
11/2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, diced
3 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 bundle of thyme, or 1 tbs dried
2 bay leaves
1 to 2 shakes hot sauce, optional
Extra-virgin olive oil
You’ll do:
Place the clams and 1 cup of water in a large pot. Cover and place over a high heat and steam the clams for 6 to 7 minutes. Uncover and remove the open clams.Cover the pot again and continue cooking the clams that haven’t opened yet. Cook the clams for another 2 to 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and discard any clams that have not opened. Strain the liquid from the pot through a mesh strainer lined with a coffee filter and reserve.
Coarsely chop the clams and reserve.
Drizzle a few drops of olive oil into the bottom of the clam pot and toss in the bacon. Bring the pan to a medium heat. When the bacon has let off a lot of fat and become brown and crispy, toss in the onions and season lightly with salt. Cook the onions until they are very soft and aromatic but have no color, 7 to 8 minutes. Add the potatoes and cook for another 5 minutes.
Sprinkle the flour over the onions and potato mixture and stir to combine. Gradually whisk in the reserved clam juice. When the clam juice has been whisked in and there are no lumps, whisk in the milk and heavy cream and toss in the bay leaves and thyme. Taste for seasoning and adjust if needed. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer and simmer until the potatoes are cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes.
Toss in the reserved clams. Taste and re-season if needed and add hot sauce if using. Remove the bay leaves and thyme bundle. You’ll never buy the canned stuff again.
Serve with crusty bread or crackers, a crisp white vino, and some friends.
As predicted, gitarcarver has provided pressure cooker alternatives for both the traditional and Manhattan clam chowders. Thanks!
Hat tip to Anne Burrell.
How much bacon goes into a rasher?
One strip or slice from the package is also called a “rasher.”
“,,,before the whining starts.” ?!?DaHELL?!? I felt that poke.
You had me at thick sliced bacon, tho I thought that rasher indicated thin sliced. And I read that as 4 pounds. A true Southern Lady Matriarch married a Massachusetts damyankey when he got stationed here in WWII. She made this same recipe for him at least once a week during the winter. Mr. E was considerably older than his bride and this was one of the few dishes he insisted she master. I made many a trip into the “Big City” Fish Market to get her the fresh clams that she insisted on using. I never liked the canned stuff, but hers was quite tasty. I attributed that to the good bacon in it.
Always thought a rasher of bacon was a big handful. Any time I’ve ordered it in a restaurant, though, it seems like it was 4 to 6 or so slices, whether thick or thin cut. It has been a while since I’ve seen the word on a menu.
One way that Google Foo looked at it. Some have even said it came from the term “a ration of bacon” generally 1/4 lb per man. Had an old mess SGT tell me that back yonder.
https://culinarylore.com/food-history:what-is-a-rasher-of-bacon/
I need a bigger fridge.
For those who like to cook under pressure:
NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER:
Ingredients
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 5 cups)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 bottle (8 ounces) clam juice
1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cans (6-1/2 ounces each) minced clams, undrained
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
Optional: Oyster crackers and fresh thyme
Directions
Place first 10 ingredients in a 6-qt. electric pressure cooker. Drain and reserve liquid from clams; add reserved liquid to pressure cooker and set clams aside. Lock lid; close pressure-release valve. Adjust to pressure-cook to high for 15 minutes. Quick-release pressure.
Select saute setting and adjust for low heat. Mix flour and cream until smooth; stir into soup. Cook and stir until slightly thickened, 6-8 minutes. Stir in clams; heat through. Serve with bacon and, if desired, crackers and fresh thyme.
And for those who like Manhattan Clam Chowder (I am trying to be full service here…)
MANHATTAN CLAM CHOWDER
2 tbsp of salted butter
1 medium onion, minced (a food processor or blender will help with this)
2 celery stalks, sliced and finely chopped (with leafy tops reserved)
1 lb of Idaho/Russet potatoes (about 2 of them), peeled and diced
4 oz of diced pancetta (optional)
1 cup of clam (or vegetable or chicken) broth (I used 1 tsp of Clam Better Than Bouillon + 1 cup of water)
28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
3 (6.5 oz) cans of chopped clams, separating and reserving the juice from the clams
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp of Old Bay seasoning
1/2 tsp of black pepper
1/8 – 1/2 tsp of Zatarain’s Concentrated Crab & Shrimp Boil (optional and a little goes a long way so don’t go above a 1/2 tsp)
Oyster Crackers, for topping
Add the butter to the Instant Pot and hit “Sauté” and “Adjust” so it’s on the “More” or “High” setting.
When melted and sizzling, add the onions and celery and stir constantly for about 2-3 minutes until slightly softened
Then, add in the diced pancetta (if using) and stir for another 2-3 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pot often so the pancetta doesn’t stick
Next, add the clam (or vegetable or chicken) broth and deglaze (scrape) the bottom of the pot to make it’s nice and smooth.
Then add in the crushed tomatoes, all of the clam juice (but NOT the clams!), seasoned salt, Old Bay, black pepper, Zatarain’s, leafy tops from the celery and potatoes.
Stir very well deglazing the bottom of the pot once more
Secure the lid and hit “Keep Warm/Cancel” and then hit “Manual” or “Pressure Cook” High Pressure for 5 minutes.
Quick release when done
When the lid comes off, stir in the reserved clams and let them heat up for about 2 minutes as the soup will also slightly thicken
Serve in bowls and top with some oyster crackers, if desired
Three things of note:
I have been using the “Better Than Bouillon” brand of liquid instead of boxed broths. There are more flavors available than broths, (you have not lived until you try garlic bouillon,) they are cheaper, and take up less space in your pantry / kitchen.
Secondly, if you want to impress a significant other, instead of using regular bowl for serving the chowder of choice in, use a bread bowl. (This is also true for many soups.) The bread soaks up a lot of the juices and you get to eat your way down the “bowl.” You can get hearty breads suitable for bowls at most mega-marts or make your own:
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/quick-and-easy-bread-bowls/
Lastly, and this is a minor detail, the name is “gitarcarver” not “Guitarcarver.” No “u.” There’s a reason for the lack of the “u” but that’s another show.
No matter which of the recipes you decide to make in this thread, enjoy them. Cooking should be fun, and a time to share with family in both prep, cooking and eating.
I see that the “Better Than Bouillon” is available at several stores in my area. I will give anything a try. Thanks for the tip.
Got’cha, gitarcarver. I try to make a point of getting names right, or a recognizable abbreviation.
Thanks for the pressure cooked recipes. I’ll have to try harder to give you a challenge- so far I haven’t even slowed you down.
AW1Ed,
The name thing is not an issue. I didn’t want anyone to think that it is. I’m literally like the old joke of “call me anything except late for dinner.” (When I first saw “Guitarcarver” in a post the other day, I thought “hey look….someone has a similar name! Cool!” 🙂 ) You deal with a lot more people than I do here, so I never worry about stuff like that.
As for recipes, I am enjoying adding to these threads. I hope Ex-PH2 hasn’t minded me posting in her thread as well.
While pressure cookers not only makes good food and makes it fast, the thing I love about them is most of the recipes are one pot clean up. My wife and I love to cook and love to eat but hate cleaning up and doing dishes.
Hope that makes sense.
Once again, thanks for letting me participate in these types of threads.
Have a great weekend.
“I hope Ex-PH2 hasn’t minded me posting in her thread as well.”
No, not at all. My cooking threads are open for additions, and some of those have been really good stuff. Fire away!
“Fire away” in a cooking thread.
I see what you did there.
😀
AW1Ed,
I suddenly noticed that you went back and changed the body of the original post.
You didn’t have to do that. Y’all have enough on your plate without going back and changing stuff that didn’t bother me in the least. I appreciate it though.
As for these threads, like I keep saying, I am having fun – maybe the most fun I have had in a while given the divisiveness and the hatred of political threads on other sites in which I participate.
Like I keep saying, thanks for letting me participate and not saying that the pressure cooker recipes are not off topic or anything. After all, as you know, “It’s only food.*”
*AB reference.
Haven’t checked in a while, but does Better than Bouillon still contain MSG??? (Sure, I can check it out for myself, but thought you might have some handy.)
I looked at three different jars – roast chicken, beef and garlic – and none have MSG listed as an ingredient.
“Better Than Bouillon” was recommended to me because with the pressure cooker, I was going through flavored broths like crazy. I could make my own beef and chicken broths, but that a bit of a pain.
For me, I have found “Better Than Bouillon” to be better tasting and easier to store. The fact that I am able to control salt levels is a plus as well.
Hope that helps.
I’ve been using “Better Than Bouillon” for a while now. My only complaint is that it is difficult to find Ham bouillon, which I tend to use a lot.
The Better Than Bouillon site has a product locator that may be useful for you.
https://www.betterthanbouillon.com/
Enter what you are looking for (in your case ham bouillon) and your zip code and they will show where you can get it in your neck of the woods.
Otherwise, you can order through the company directly or even off of Amazon.
The ham version is considered a premium bouillon, so be prepared to pay more for it.
Nice appetizah fah thah Lobstah dinnah to follah.
Thought you’d chime in, -beans.
*grin*
Chowder, it’s harder than it looks.
As a proud New Englander, tomatoes in chowder? F to the hell’naw!
That’s clam stew damnit!
I miss clam chowder. In New England it’s everywhere and almost always pretty good. Down here, not so much.
I am glad to see your recipe included hot sauce, though I think more than one or two drops is needed to give the chowder the correct bite and slightly orange tint.