Well, it’s rainy and chilly outside (YEA!!!!), and  I can’t think of a better recipe for a day like today than clam chowder.  I’m from New England, which means that any other kind — Manhattan, Long Island, etc. — just won’t do.

This recipe uses canned clams because I can’t get fresh ones in the Rocky Mountains.  If you live near a great fish monger, then by all means, have him shuck a pound of clams for you, and you can use those instead.

new england clam chowder

2-3 slices bacon, chopped
2  6 ounce cans chopped clams (I use Bar Harbor brand.)
1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced into 1 inch pieces
2 cups chicken stock
1 medium onion, chopped
3-4 stalks celery, chopped
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
4 cups half and half
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
juice of one lemon
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1.  Cook bacon in a large pot set over medium heat.  When brown, remove with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel.  Set aside.
2.  Drain juice from clams and pour over potatoes in a medium sized pot.  Pour in chicken stock.  Add enough water to cover potatoes, if needed. Season with 1 teaspoon salt.  Bring to a boil and cook, uncovered, until potatoes are tender.
3.  Add butter and oil to pot, along with the onions and celery.  Add in 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Cook on medium for ten minutes until onions are translucent and completely tender.  Stir in flour and cook for a minute more.  Add in half and half.  Stir until smooth and thickened.
4.  Without draining, pour potatoes and stock into onion and half and half mixture.  Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in bacon, clams, lemon juice, pepper, and parsley.  Simmer for ten minutes more.  Serve.

* Freezing is usually not recommended for cream soups, because things tend to separate.  However, we had leftovers which we froze and reheated in a pot over low heat.  Though some of the texture was lost, it still was tasty.

One Response to “new england clam chowder”

1. Jaime Richardson says:

   15 September 2008 at 8:25 am

   I had a comment recently about thickening this chowder. Most cream soups start with a roux, which is melted butter (or another type of fat), mixed with an almost equal part of flour, and then cooked for a minute or so until the flour loses some of its raw taste. Anytime you change the proportions of the amount of flour or fat, you may end up with different results. When I was experimenting with this recipe last, I thought I would like to decrease the amount of fat. Doing this meant decreasing the amount of flour, too. I was unhappy with how it thickened. So I made a smaller batch of roux in another pan, added a bit of milk to make basically a bechamel sauce, and added it back into the soup. If I wanted to keep it lower fat, I think I would have not added the extra roux, and stuck with a thinner soup. (my grandmother used to make it that way, and it still tasted fantastic.) I could have also added more potatoes at the beginning, and put half of them in a blender after they were cooked. That would have also helped with the amount of fat.
   Now to the lemon juice. The lemon juice is a great part of this chowder because it helps cut through the heavy taste of the cream and flour. It also adds a great depth of flavor. If you choose to decrease the amount of fat by making less roux (hence less flour), or by adding more potatoes (and then blending them), your soup will lose a bit of its richness. I would suggest using less lemon juice by decreasing it to 1 or two teaspoons. It won’t have as much heaviness to cut though.