[Sca-cooks] chowder - OOP

[Erika Thomenius]

>>
>>A counterchallenge, though, since your confidence level is so high.
>>Find a modern chowder recipe, which produces the thick, smoothish
>>(excepting clams or taters, that is), white milk and/or cream stuff
>>that most people today associate with New England, that is older than
>>1900. Do we have a deal?
>>
>>And the honor and glory, of course, lie in the attempt, so never fear
>>on that score.

(These are my preliminary findings, from the internet.  I have a
6-month-old, so sometimes it is tricky to get to a library quickly.  I won't
be able to go until this weekend, but here's what I've found so far.)

In the 1896 Fannie Farmer cookbook, there is a clam chowder recipe that is
precisely as you have said.  The Fannie Farmer cookbook was previously known
as _The Boston Cookery School Cook Book_, published in 1883, but I wasn't
able to find a copy to verify if the New England Clam Chowder was in that
one, too.

Now, I realize that, while you did say "pre-1900", 1896 doesn't really
count, so I kept looking.  As I suspect you knew I would, I did not find in
any of the online 19th century cookbooks (and there are many) any recipes
that came up with a milk or cream based clam chowder, and at least one that
calls for the addition of ketchup.  However, I did find a lot of clam soup
recipes that are VERY similar to New England Clam Chowder in _Common Sense
in the Household_ (1874), _The National Cook-Book_ (1866), and this one from
_Mrs. Goodfellow’s Cookery As It Should be_ (1865):


Clams – Stewed p 128

The small round, thin-edged clam is the best; it is called “Quahog”  The
best way of preparing them is to was the clam carefully, then lay them in an
iron pot and cover it, set it in an oven, and this saves the juice; when
they are all opened, but not allowed to cook, put the juice into a saucepan
– not the clams, stir in a large spoonful of butter and a spoonful of flour,
chop some fresh parsley and add them; mix this well with the juice, and let
it simmer for 5 minutes; then add a cup of cream, grated nutmeg, salt and a
little pepper; let this simmer again, then add the clams, which like
oysters, must not be much cooked as they harden by cooking.  Serve hot.


Looks pretty familiar, but it's not called clam chowder.

_Common Sense In the Household_ has a specific recipe for clam chowder,
calling for salt pork and crackers soaked in milk, but it calls for the
addition of catsup, wine and spiced sauce, whatever that is.

In addition, there is a reference in _Moby Dick_ (1851):

But when that smoking chowder came in, the mystery was delightfully
explained.  Oh, sweet friends! hearken to me.  It was made of small juicy
clams, scarcely bigger than hazel nuts, mixed with pounded ship biscuit, and
salted pork cut up into little flakes; the whole enriched with butter, and
plentifully seasoned with pepper and salt.



Now, there's no cream, no potatoes, and the addition of salt pork (which
this particular Chowder Purist is willing to accept as canon), but there are
also no tomatoes.

So what do you think?

-Gytha "Words taste good with cream sauce." Karlsdotter

:)

-----------------------------------------

Living in fear that someone is going to spot the zipper at the back of my
grown-up suit.


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