Poll: What's Your Favorite Clam Chowder??

[kehoff]

around the Chesapeake region good chowdah' clams are in short supply , give me some oyster stew Maryland Oyster Stew Recipe

 

[Bill]

Today I learned there is more than 1 type of clam chowder..

 

[novivin]

Say it Frenchie!

Honestly, NE is my favorite, but it needs clams!!! I like to chew on mine. Kelly’s Roast Beef makes a mean chowdah! Lots of tender clams, thin broth without a heavy cream base, plenty of broth to cream in that recipe I think.

 

[bettylovesfishing]

Say it Frenchie!

Honestly, NE is my favorite, but it needs clams!!! I like to chew on mine. Kelly’s Roast Beef makes a mean chowdah! Lots of tender clams, thin broth without a heavy cream base, plenty of broth to cream in that recipe I think.

you crazy, very funny.......how did you find that episode

 

[novivin]

You are correct sir, I am certifiable.
Seriously though, that “Kennedy” MA accent is pretty hard to forget.
I can’t knock it too bad, I speak with that same slang and sound quite a bit.

 

[Canyondiver]

Definitely a NE chowdah guy!

Though I like it without the roux.

Just whizz up some of the potato to thicken a bit if you like.

 

[JCC]

RI. You can have milk chowder, tomato chowder or clam chowder.

 

[Aotea]

Gentlemen, please.

Cooks among you, alert!

Your recipes for the greatest clam-etc. chowder ever. We are starved for this in the South.

One way or another, just post 'em here.

In return, I will send you the best-ever-recipes-for-shrimp-and-grits, and more amazing Southern fare besides.

Eat well!

 

[Roccus7]

Gentlemen, please.

Cooks among you, alert!

Your recipes for the greatest clam-etc. chowder ever. We are starved for this in the South.

One way or another, just post 'em here.

In return, I will send you the best-ever-recipes-for-shrimp-and-grits, and more amazing Southern fare besides.

Eat well!

OK, but I'm grew up Italian family watching Mom & Nana cook, so don't expect any exact measurements...

All I use is fresh clams, potatoes, onions, bacon, ground pepper, heavy cream, and 1/2 & 1/2. Celery and carrots belong in salad, not soup.

1. Start off with 18 large, fresh, hard shell clams. Shuck them over a bowl making sure you're saving all the clam juice while shucking
   
   
2. Cut up the clams into whatever sized pieces you'd like, once again reserving all the liquid. I like to put a colander over the clam juice from step 1 and put the chopped clams into the colander so all the clammy goodness drips into the clam juice.
   
   
3. Here comes the Italian... Cut up enough potatoes to be about 20% less volume than the clam broth you have, BUT not more than 25% more than the chopped clam volume
   
   
4. Take 2 slices of a good, thick cut bacon (I like Wrights) and mince into small pieces. Stick them in your pot and sauté until the fat is rendered and they're almost getting crispy
   
   
5. Chop 2 yellow onions and add to the pot, cooking until they're clear
   
   
6. Grab your pepper mill and add about a dozen grinds of pepper, add the clam juice and potatoes and bring to low boil
   
   
7. Once the potatoes are almost cooked to your liking, add the chopped clams and bring back to a boil
   
   
8. Now the critical step. I've titered the proper Heavy Cream to Regular Milk ratio extensively, and have found a 3:1 cream to milk ratio is "perfect" to my taste buds, which means equal volumes of heavy cream to 1/2 &1/2 (NOT FAT FREE 1/2 & 1/2). In the 18 clam recipe this usually translates to 1 pint of each of heavy cream and 1/2 & 1/2. Bring to a boil and it's done. FWIW I've tried 100% heavy cream and felt it was "too, too"...
   
   
9. If you want a thicker chowder, you can thicken with Roux or with Corn Starch, you're call. Usually the starch from the spuds makes mine thick enough to my liking, but that's a personal thing. If my son is over with his family, I'll thicken it a bit as he likes it with a higher viscosity...
   
   
10. Pop it in a bowl, break out the oyster crackers if desired, along with some pats of butter, have the pepper mill on the table, and enjoy!!

 

[Roccus7]

around the Chesapeake region good chowdah' clams are in short supply , give me some oyster stew Maryland Oyster Stew Recipe

I do love a oyster stew too, especially since it takes all of a few minutes to make, if you've got some fresh oysters sitting in the fridge, which I usually do because my oyster bar is sitting next to my clam flat!! I use a good smoked sweet paprika in lieu of Old Bay...

I may be rekindling the Civil War here, but I do feel sorry for anyone getting oysters south of NY LI's South Shore. The quality of the American Oyster, Crassostrea virginica, is directly impacted by the water temperature, being inversely proportional to the water temp.

Even up here, where the water temps on my oyster beds rarely exceeds 65°F, I find early season oysters OK for cooking, but not the best on the raw bar. I takes at least low 40°F water temps to bring them to their peak.

I could never fathom the lure of fried oysters until I went down to NOLA and had some raw oysters there, HORRIBLE. Yeah, they deserved to be fried and served in a Po' Boy with lots of remoulade...

 

[LuckyBummer]

Is there really any other Chowdah than New England clam chowder?

No

 

[kehoff]

I do love a oyster stew too, especially since it takes all of a few minutes to make, if you've got some fresh oysters sitting in the fridge, which I usually do because my oyster bar is sitting next to my clam flat!! I use a good smoked sweet paprika in lieu of Old Bay...

I may be rekindling the Civil War here, but I do feel sorry for anyone getting oysters south of NY LI's South Shore. The quality of the American Oyster, Crassostrea virginica, is directly impacted by the water temperature, being inversely proportional to the water temp.

Even up here, where the water temps on my oyster beds rarely exceeds 65°F, I find early season oysters OK for cooking, but not the best on the raw bar. I takes at least low 40°F water temps to bring them to their peak.

I could never fathom the lure of fried oysters until I went down to NOLA and had some raw oysters there, HORRIBLE. Yeah, they deserved to be fried and served in a Po' Boy with lots of remoulade...

you should try some of the farmed oysters from the shore , fact is any out of the choptank are good choptank sweets oysters farm - Google Search

 

[woodshop teacher]

anyone that's married knows its your wife's Chowdah!!!!
Having Her delicious Haddock New England Chowdah tonite.
She makes a killer Clam chowder too!
only thing that might be better is her seafood Chowder
all New England style

 

[Quik Fix 16]

Sooooo, all you N E guys put clams in your tater soup and call it chowder?

 

[woodshop teacher]

YUP!

 

[aweigh again]

I like rhode island chowder in the warmer months, its thinner consistency fits well in the summer, in the winter new england, because its thicker and just is more appealing in colder weather.

 

[Roccus7]

you should try some of the farmed oysters from the shore , fact is any out of the choptank are good choptank sweets oysters farm - Google Search

Farmed/schmared, Must people don't know this, but virtually all farm oysters are genetically engineered, not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm a better living through chemistry kid of guy, but I bet this epiphany would cause some folks who poo-poo GMO'd food into seizures faster than Vibrio...

The NY Times had an article last year saying how farmed oysters from different parts of the same estuary taste differently. I found that highly suspect, and for an experiment, I took wild oysters from different areas in my river and tried to discern any difference. As expected, no differences, but that's my assessment.

Honestly, the wild oysters I collect here are better than anything I've ever eaten anywhere, and multiple neighbors from all over the US including the Chesapeake, all agree, especially a very skeptical person from the Eastern Shore. It took him 15 minutes after I gave him a dozen telling him these would be the best he's ever had to call and say, "OMG, You're right!! I don't expect that you'll show me where you get those?" That was as dumb a question as asking me where I catch my stripers...

No matter how you cut it, water temp is a key factor in oyster taste, along with water quality and salinity. When our season first opens, and the water is warm enough not to need gloves, I only collect oysters for stew and baking. Once I break out the gloves, the raw bar opens. Some of the best oysters are heralded by them freezing to the wire basket on the way home...

 

[the_Bartender]

Farmed/schmared, Must people don't know this, but virtually all farm oysters are genetically engineered, not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm a better living through chemistry kid of guy, but I bet this epiphany would cause some folks who poo-poo GMO'd food into seizures faster than Vibrio...

The NY Times had an article last year saying how farmed oysters from different parts of the same estuary taste differently. I found that highly suspect, and for an experiment, I took wild oysters from different areas in my river and tried to discern any difference. As expected, no differences, but that's my assessment.

Honestly, the wild oysters I collect here are better than anything I've ever eaten anywhere, and multiple neighbors from all over the US including the Chesapeake, all agree, especially a very skeptical person from the Eastern Shore. It took him 15 minutes after I gave him a dozen telling him these would be the best he's ever had to call and say, "OMG, You're right!! I don't expect that you'll show me where you get those?" That was as dumb a question as asking me where I catch my stripers...

No matter how you cut it, water temp is a key factor in oyster taste, along with water quality and salinity. When our season first opens, and the water is warm enough not to need gloves, I only collect oysters for stew and baking. Once I break out the gloves, the raw bar opens. Some of the best oysters are heralded by them freezing to the wire basket on the way home...

Here in the Lynnhaven River and other areas the commercial oyster people that farm oysters, use a "triploid" oyster which is sterile and therefore, during warmer months, does not get thin and milky like the natural, "diploid" oyster. I know, I grow diploid oysters to restore oyster beds in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. The triploid larvae form a bigger oyster more quickly and it is a firmer/meatier oyster and can be taken to market sooner regardless of the time of year. Also, it would not make any sense to raise triploid/sterile oyster instead of diploid/fertile oysters when trying to restore oyster beds. I also agree, the colder the water, the better the oyster!

 

[the_Bartender]

Also, triploid oysters are NOT GMO's. here is some info that helps explain it. Granted this article is old and originally french, but it pretty well sums things up! Otherwise, Google Triploid vs Diploid: diploid vs triploid at DuckDuckGo

Triploid oysters

 

[the_Bartender]

Getting back to the original question, my favorite clam chowder is MY OWN! It is basically a Hatteras Style Clam chowder, (which I think is similar to a Rhode Island clam chowder), with a broth base instead of milk/heavy cream base. But when I make it, the broth is just as thick as cream because the potatoes break down and thicken it up. If I need to thicken it even more, I have been known to add instant potato flakes. Here is a recipe from a google search that is close to what I make, but I do not use carrots. And after all the cooking and the potatoes are done I take it off the burner and then stir in my diced chowder clams. Damn, now you've done it, guess what I am going to make this weekend!

Hatteras Style Clam Chowder

No cream, but a potful of clam juice in this chowder with potatoes, thyme and bacon.

www.allrecipes.com