New England Clam Chowder
Note: Some people like really thick clam chowder. Although the traditional way is for this chowder to be brothy and not thick, if you prefer your chowder to be thick, just add a few more tablespoons of flour than is called for in the recipe and cook a few minutes before you add potatoes, broth and spices. You will need to stir often to make sure the chowder does not stick.
Another option is to mix equal amounts of melted butter and flour to make a roux and add it at the end stirring a little at a time into the hot chowder until it reaches your desired consistency.
Ingredients
- 5 pounds of live cherrystone clams in shells (or quahogs), shells scrubbed. Note: If you live in an area where you can’t buy fresh clams, substitute 10 ounces of canned chopped clams and 3 cups of bottled clam juice
- 1 ounce of salt pork, diced
- 1 ½ ounces of bacon, diced fine
- 2 tablespoon butter
- ¼ cup minced celery
- 1 cup of onion, chopped
- 1 small garlic clove, minced
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 3 cups of stock from the clams
- 1 ¼ pounds all-purpose potatoes, peeled and ½” diced
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, or ½ teaspoon dried
- 1 bay leaf
- Black pepper
- 2 cups heavy cream
- Butter for serving
Instructions
- In a pan large enough to hold the clams, bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Add clams and cover the pot. Cook over medium high heat for 7-9 minutes. If any clams don’t open, discard. Remove clams from broth and transfer to a sheet tray. Reserve the broth. Strain through a fine sieve lined with a coffee filter or cheese cloth. Strain a few times to remove all traces of sand.
- Remove the clams from the shells. With a sharp knife, cut meat around belly and reserve. Then split the bellies lengthwise and scrape out and discard the contents. Cut bellies and add to the reserved chopped clams. Discard shells.
- In a large heavy bottomed pot over medium heat, cook diced salt pork and bacon until rendered and pork fat pieces are slightly browned. Add butter and melt.
- Add celery, onions, garlic and half the potatoes and cook for about ten minutes or until onions are translucent. Stir often. Add flour and cook for another minute.
- Add 3 cups of reserved broth, the rest of the potatoes, thyme and bay leaf and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 10-15 minutes..
- Once potatoes are tender, remove the pot from the heat, discard bay leaf and add chopped clams and cream. (If you are making this ahead of time, do not add the cream until you are ready to heat and serve.)
- Season chowder with pepper as needed and heat to serving temperature. Depending on how briny the clams are and since this recipe used salt pork, you may not need to put in additional salt.
- Serve with a dollop of butter over each portion and oyster crackers on the side.
