[Sca-cooks] For the Chowderheads
Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius
adamantius.magister at verizon.net
Tue Dec 6 17:08:49 PST 2005
On Dec 6, 2005, at 7:53 PM, marilyn traber 011221 wrote:
> OK, well, let's take it back a few years. Apparently the term
> "chowder" for a
> fish stew is fairly recent (anybody want to see what the OED
> says?), but it
> seems to have elements in common which could have been combined in
> period-
> Salt pork (or bacon) as the fat, fresh fish, crackers, and onions
> seem to be
> pretty common throughout. What period soup/stews might have been the
> forecaster of what we call chowder today? I'm thinking we ought to
> look most
> at the Brits, particularly coastal/seafaring types, with perhaps
> some small
> influence from the Dutch and French, those being the groups which
> were most
> influential in colonizing the northeast, shortly after our period.
>
> I notice similarities with the original gazpacho, for example, but the
> Spanish didn't have a lot of influence in New England. I also
> notice that
> many of the ingredients are what might readily be found on ship
> board- Brandu-
> do you have any thoughts?
It's been alleged that the word refers to the pot [chaudiere] in
which the dish is cooked, and that that is French. When you compare
the concept to some matelote and bourride recipes (fish soups
exclusive of the more-famous boulliabaise, and more common in places
like Normandy), it seems like they might have common ancestors.
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
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