Manhattan Clam Chowder

[Gutenberg]

Fellas, chowder is any chunky soup. You don't have to have cream or milk in a chowder. And New England clam chowder is delicious, but so is Manhattan clam chowder if it's made well. BTW--the Manhattanites introduced tomato to their chowder because the Italians didn't have cows in the backyard on Mulberry St.

Manhattan Clam Chowder is SO easy to make. Start with the smokiest bacon you can find, and brown about a quarter pound in a big pot. Remove the bacon, pour some of the fat off and keep about two tablespoons of fat in the pot. Add a chopped onion and half a bell pepper, also chopped, and stir them around in the bacon fat till they start to get soft, about five minutes on medium high heat. Add a tablespoon of tomato paste and stir it around till it smells good and tomatoey, about a minute. Add two cans of diced tomatoes, a bottle of clam juice and two peeled and cubed potatoes. Let that cook for 15 minutes or so on medium to medium low while you shuck 18 clams. Chop the clams and add them and the bacon to the soup along with some thyme and pepper. Cook for another five minutes until everything is heated through, and serve with French bread and a salad.

[Jack D.]

Ombligo wrote:
New England Clam Chowder is not that hard to make, and so much better..

Basic recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
4 slices bacon, diced
1 1/2 cups chopped white onion
1 1/2 cups water
4 cups peeled and small cubed potatoes
1 teaspoons salt
ground black pepper to taste
3 cups half-and-half (or use 1.5 cups milk & 1.5 cups cream)
3 tablespoons butter (not margarine)
1 lb minced clams (2 10-oz cans if fresh isn't available)
1 bottle clam juice (if using fresh clams, otherwise use juice from the cans)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Place diced bacon in large stock pot over medium-high heat. Cook until almost crisp; add onions, and cook 5 minutes. Stir in water and potatoes, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, and cook uncovered for 15 minutes, or until potatoes are fork tender.
2. Pour in half-and-half, and add butter. Drain clams, reserving clam liquid; stir clams and 1/2 of the clam liquid into the soup. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until heated through. Do not allow to boil.

Gives you about six servings.



Now if you bouillabaisse a tomato based, go with a bouillabaisse not Manhattan. It is a more difficult dish with many more ingredients. All in all a good excuse to go to a good restaurant.

Other than slight adjustments to certain proportions this is my exact recipe. Kap, the only thing you can do to improve on this is dig the clams yourself. Now if you don't like it white you can always slop some ketchup in there to make it Manhattan style but don't do it in these parts. People will know you're a tourist for sure.

So remember, no tomatoes, no tofu, no sprouts, no goat cheese, no avocado, no low fat/sodium/cholesterol anything! Use REAL butter, REAL bacon and REAL cream ....and please don't put ketchup in it.

[OWC Jamie]

kap wrote:
It's the only type I'd enjoy eating the most. But it's so hard to find at most restaurants we frequent. I can't even find canned one. Why so?

For a more traditional Yankee clam chowder look for Snow's. You'd be surprised how many restaurants use it solely or as a base.

If you really like the 'portuguese' style just add some whole canned or jarred tomatoes to the Snow's. If you want real die hard portuguese or Azorean chowder add kale. maybe even some chorico. (course, now you don't even need the clams because you're making poor man's stew) :-)

[AAA]

That's the one type I do not like.

[RgrF]

If you're going to use Snow's (which isn't a bad choice but not on par with Trader Joe's) don't dilute it with an equal can of milk use about half that amount and throw a chunk of artery hardening butter in.

[kap]

Y'all are making me hungry! I will try simple version of the given recipe here. Nothing is more delicious than hot soup on chilly days! Thank you everyone!

[OWC Jamie]

Snow's being a half way decent clam chowder could be a thirty year old and out of date statement.
Mollusks do not meet my teeth.

[RgrF]

You have teeth left?

[Racer X]

in a glass, on the nightstand.