Chowing on Chowder

A variety of ingredients and preparations make chowder a soup for all seasons

By Margaret Casey, Special to R&I -- Restaurants & Institutions, 8/1/2004

By-the-book definitions don’t begin to capture the many faces of chowder. Dictionaries describe thick, chunky seafood soups, which fits, but only to a point. For most New Englanders, the best chowders are free of flour or roux and more milky than thick. Some versions take seafood out of the mix altogether: Corn chowder, for example, celebrates summer instead of the water’s bounty while sausage or chicken chowders expand the definition and the menu appeal even more.

At La Mansi�n del Rio, Chef Scott Cohen's corn chowder swaps the sea's bounty for that of the land.

Regardless of the specific ingredients, though, the term generally sparks an image of a substantive soup well endowed with chunky ingredients and always served hot. Beyond that, it can be milk- or cream-based, as is the classic New England clam chowder, or tomatoey and known as Manhattan clam chowder. Salt pork provides a rich and salty note that best defines the New England style but bacon, prosciutto and pancetta can add meaty depth just as effectively. And while mellow tastes generally dominate the genre, chowders are not immune to aggressive spicing by way of hot chiles and Southwestern influences.

Blue Mermaid Chowder House & Bar

The soup, an easy springboard for innovation, allows chefs to indulge creative whims. For one of his favorite takes on classic chowder, Scott Cohen, executive chef of Las Canarias restaurant at La Mansión del Rio hotel in San Antonio, swaps the sea’s treasures for that of the land. Throughout summer, his menu features a chowder that is a triple play on sweet corn. Ears of corn first are roasted and shucked; the stripped cobs then are simmered with either water or chicken stock to make milky base for the soup. Some of the roasted kernels are puréed and stirred into the corn stock while others lend texture. The soup is garnished with corn sticks.

“It tastes wonderfully of summer,” Cohen notes, adding that, without cream, milk or thickeners, the soup satisfies seasonal preferences for lighter fare.

Chef Chandon Clenard has to take chowder pretty seriously, given the name of the restaurant—Blue Mermaid Chowder House & Bar—and its location on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. Each day, Blue Mermaid’s menu features two to three varieties of the soup, among them a classic clam-based bowl filled with potatoes, onions and subtle spicing. But local Dungeness crab, bacon, corn, hot chiles and cilantro were among the flavorful underpinnings of the version that allowed him to take top honors in the 23rd annual Great Chowder Cook-Off in Newport, R.I., in June. Cream, further enriched with a small amount of cream cheese, acts as a soothing backdrop for the chiles, creating a perfectly balanced platform to flaunt fresh crabmeat.

California Dungeness Crab Chowder
Blue Mermaid Chowder House & Bar

Yield: 12 cups

Applewood-smoked bacon, diced	4 oz.
Unsalted butter	4 Tbsp.
Corn	1 cup
Yellow onions, diced	2
Pasilla chile, diced	1
Celery stalk, diced	1
Garlic cloves, minced	2
Jalapeño chile, seeded, split in half	1
Crab seasoning	1 tsp.
Chipotle powder	½ tsp.
Fresh thyme, minced	4 sprigs
Bay leaf	1
Crab stock	1 qt.
Maine potatoes, ½-in. dice	2 lb.
Heavy cream	1-1½ cups
Cream cheese, softened	2 oz.
Freshly ground white pepper	½ tsp.
Kosher salt	to taste
Dungeness crabmeat	1 lb.
Cilantro, minced	1 bunch
Olive oil	½ cup

In heavy, 6 qt. pot, cook bacon to render fat. Remove bacon when crisp. Leave half of fat in pan. Add butter and corn; cook to soften, 5 minutes; remove and set aside. Add onions to pan; cook until translucent then add pasilla chile. Cook 3 to 4 minutes; set aside with corn. Add celery to pan, cook briefly then add garlic. Return corn, onion, pasilla and bacon to celery. Add jalapeño halves, crab seasoning, chipotle powder, thyme and bay leaf.
Add just enough stock to cover vegetables; add potatoes. Over high heat, bring to boil and cook 4 minutes.
Add cream and cream cheese, simmer 2 minutes. Remove from heat; add pepper and salt. If mixture needs thickening, smash a few potatoes with back of spoon. Remove and discard jalapeño halves.
Prepare cilantro oil by puréeing cilantro and oil.
To serve, place chowder in a bowl, add 1 to 2 oz. crabmeat and a dab of cilantro oil.

In the Thick
Cream-based soups often are thickened with roux, a mixture of flour (or other starchy substance) cooked in hot fat such as butter, lard or oil. Though thick, chowders acquire their viscous trait by way of another foodstuff: potatoes. The starch in potatoes is released into the cooking stock, endowing it with additional body and substance. Potato-thickened soups are neither as heavy nor thick as those endowed with roux.

When potatoes are used for thickening, be sure to select a starchy variety; russets—also called bakers—generally are favored for their low moisture and high starch content. Waxy new potatoes or fingerlings are not recommended but yellow-fleshed potatoes generally have enough starch to be used in chowders.

As for peeled or unpeeled potatoes? That choice can be made by the chef.

Diggin' Clams
Even the most energetic cooks can be daunted by the prep of fresh clams for chowder, especially since containers of fresh clams, already shucked and ready, are easily procured.

For chowder, nearly any variety of clam can be used. Whatever the type, select smaller specimens as they tend to be more tender. Clams, which burrow in sand, require thorough cleaning, usually by soaking in salted water. And opening them is not easily done by the inexperienced (although a quick 15 to 20 minutes in the freezer is said by some to help—as they warm up on the counter, the muscles loosen a bit). Working over a bowl ensures that none of the flavorful clam juice—known as clam liquor—escapes.

Eight quarts of shell-on clams yield about a quart of shucked clams and 2 to 3 cups of chopped clams.

Menu Scan
New England is not the only area that knows good chowder nor is its regional style the only one that shows up on menus. Tasty options from around the country demonstrate its range.

Bear Rock Cafe, multiple locations
Baked Potato Mountain Chowder

Blue Mermaid World Grill, Portsmouth, N.H.
Smoked Scallop Chowder with popped wild rice

B. Smith, New York City
Penobscot Lobster Chowder

Canyon Cafe, Santa Fe, N.M.
Poblano Chicken Chowder