[Sca-cooks] Yankees, Hash, and Beets, was and still is: Winter comfort food...

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Dec 6, 2005, at 6:40 PM, marilyn traber 011221 wrote:

> Well, Magister Spoon Tease, since you have both types there, you  
> should have
> your recipes close to hand, or at least to mind. Why don't you tell  
> us what
> YOU think makes an excellent chowder of each type?

What I made was what I considered acceptable chowders, based almost  
entirely on pantry staples, such as canned, chopped clams and clam  
juice. Part of the whole cold-weather-food mystique involves not  
going out into the snow for clams... ;-) This also makes no claim to  
be a 19th-century-style chowder (certain family members having  
strong, if illogical, feelings on the subject).

So, with that caveat... here's what I did:

I sliced and shredded about 4 ounces of salt pork and placed it in  
the bottom of a 4-quart saucepan to render. Eventually it started to  
brown a little, but I didn't want it any darker than golden, so when  
it looked like there wouldn't be quite enough rendered fat to do the  
job I had in mind, I added a pat of butter, and then about a half-cup  
of finely-chopped onion, which I allowed to sweat at low heat until  
translucent. Then stirred in about 3/4 cup of flour and let that cook  
slowly until it no longer smelled like raw flour, then added bottled  
clam juice and the juice from canned clams by the time I was done,  
this turned out to be about 1 1/2 to 2 quarts -- five 8-ounce bottles  
and maybe another 8 or 10 ounces from the four 6.5-ounce cans of  
clams I used. Stirred this until the flour was dissolved, and brought  
it to a boil while peeling and dicing  six or seven floury russet  
potatoes into 3/4-inch cubes. Added spuds to pot, brought it to a  
boil, reduced the heat to low and simmered for about 1/2 hour.

During this time, Evil Spawn arrives home from school and announces  
that it smells heavenly, and announces intention of eating majority  
of product, but for my stated intention of adding additional dairy  
products. Evil Spawn begins to root around in cupboard in  
exaggerated, theatrical manner, indicating that he's a good sport  
about his teenage skin afflictions in re dairy products.

Normally I would then have added milk and cream, or half-and-half,  
but I decided to take pity on Evil Spawn and reserved about a quart  
of my chowder mixture (and 1/4 of the clams) in a separate pot to  
create a semblance of Rhode Island "clear" chowder. He requested the  
addition of tomato product, so I added a Tbs of tomato paste and a  
gratuitous drop of hot sauce.

To the larger pot I added a pint each of milk and cream, let that  
reduce a little, added the clams to both pots, and seasoned both pots  
with salt and pepper. I decided the dairy-based chowder was a little  
thin, so I stirred in about a quarter-cup of matzoh cake meal (in  
lieu of finely crushed ship's biscuit).

I ended up with about four quarts of chowder, all told, which is  
about right for a dinner and some for lunch tomorrow.

Pink chowder served as is, white chowder got a little more butter at  
service. Served with the Paula Peck/James Beard Cuban quick bread  
(it's basically a pseudo-French-bread that rises in the oven) and a  
salad.

> Phlip, who prefers oyster stew...

Hard to argue with that. I like a good oyster pan roast myself.

Adamantius



"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la  
brioche!" / "If there's no bread to be had, one has to say, let them  
eat cake!"
     -- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,  
"Confessions", 1782

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
     -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry  
Holt, 07/29/04