Food
Classic New England Clam Chowder
This classic New England clam chowder recipe includes shellfish, bacon, potatoes, and cream. It’s rich and thick without turning glunky.
By Yankee Magazine|Jan 28 2022|
Coffee By Design | Portland, Maine
Photo Credit : Katherine Keenan
Sounds really close to genuine New England Chowda but I thought it was salt pork ( NO BACON ) add a little Worcestershire and a couple of drops of Tabasco. Now you have ” REAL CHOWDA ” !!!
I do not remember bacon being in clam chowder when I was growing up. It’s sad bacon is stuck in everything when the true taste should be the clams. Is the addition of bacon a new thing or was it in the “original” clam chowder?
If it’s not a salt pork base it’s not chowder. All kinds . Goes back to whalin and Nantucket.
Chowder was originally for people on a budget. You would use milk instead of cream. Salt pork is more traditional than bacon, but you don’t need either one. The fat should be butter. Chowder ain’t right without butter.
Sounds like my Nana’s recipe, from Scituate when I was little. My Dad ALWAYS made this for us in summer, YUMMY
Salt pork, not bacon. No flour or thyme. Milk, not cream. Evaporated milk is even tastier.
I come from a family of Ipswich clammers. Real New England clam chowder is and always was made with salt pork and only seasoned with salt and pepper. Original clam chowder was also thin in consistency because milk was used. Butter was added at the end.
Restaurant chefs started thickening with a roux and adding spices like thyme (yuck) and changing it entirely.
Also grew up in Ipswich in a clamming family. Agree with you 100%. Salt pork, never bacon. Cooked the potatoes in clam broth. Salt and pepper are the only seasonings allowed. Still make it that way today and everyone loves it.
Almost impossible to find good chowda in a restaurant outside of the Noth Shore!
I agree with Diane about salt pork, not bacon, no thyme or thickener. So many people think they need to add other ingredients. I. Even had clam chowder once with rosemary in it. Yuk! Chowder is best made simple, clams, salt pork, onions, potatoes, milk or light cream. I am a New England girl and whenever I make clam chowder, I get rave reviews.
Did any of you try this recipe, or just trying to impress with your extensive knowledge?? Recipes change over the years with experimentation. Stop whining and give it a try.
Amen!
Tried the new recipe. No thanks. Salt pork, not bacon; no flour or other thickening. Milk instead of cream. Use common crackers when eating if you want a thick chowder.
For the “most “ authentic, Herman Melville provides a bit of comic relief AND an excellent Chowder recipe in Moby Dick. I believe the chapter title is “Chowder”.
Traditional clam chowder was developed from a milk based fish chowder that contained fish such as cod or haddock, potatoes, salt pork , onions, and milk. When clams were used, cream was added to make it thicker, but certainly NO parsley, sage, rosemary, or thyme. And, frequently, common crackers or similar were added to thicken it, so some people thought they could thicken with a roux. If people want to add those things, it is not traditional…
I grew up in SE Massachusetts and I’ve been making clam chowder for 50 years, though I Iive in Colorado now. It’s salt pork, not bacon, for sure, however it isn’t always easy to find out west here ! It’s hard to find quahogs, too. No flour, please.
Light cream is okay. Keep it simple.
Rhode Island Chowdah has bacon
My mom put in that or salt pork, whichever she had and chopped onions. Pour in the clam broth, add potatoes and simmer til they were done. Add chopped quahogs and call it good. So simple and so very good. A clear broth has always been my favorite. I save the cream for strawberry shortcake dessert! : )
I’m born and raised in Massachusetts and lived there for nearly 60 years. My recipe for clam chowder includes thyme, a bay leaf and half cream and half milk. A pat of butter in the bowl adds to the deliciousness! I always get rave reviews!
No two cooks cook the same. What is a favorite for one isn’t for another. We all have different styles and all is good. How boring it would be if everyone used the same recipe. I change my standbys all the time because our tastes change. Theirs no one recipe only what we like.
I grew up in New England my whole life we never ever put flour in clam chowder or fish chowder and never rosemary thyme or sage and we never put salt pork or bacon in it it was onion the fish or the clams the The juice or the water after it was cooked in it Potatoes diced, onions, Cream, milk, Salt and pepper that’s it!!!
oh and of course butter !
I don’t care what’s in it now, I just want some BAD!
BACON…NO NO NO NEVER… if u want bacon have a BLT but not in CHOWDA…its real simple bring water 2 a boil add wht fish …or clams….another pot cook onions in butter till done add the water from the fish/clams , cut pots in bite sz pieces cook till ALMOST done, add the seafood …1/2 and 1/2 crm, some milk 2 cover everything …ENJOY….its as good the nxt day….
Simple and done right. Why do you continue to repeat this same recipe?
My family goes way back in Cape Cod. We dug our quahogs fresh at the oceans edge and grandma immediately put them in the pot with couple inches of water and steamed till open. Saved broth, chopped the clams. In dry pot, she fried sliced salt pork, removed excess fat, fried a chopped onion til soft not brown , added diced potato, any amount you choose, according to desired thickness and reserved broth and cook until potatoes are tender. Add chopped clam meat and a can of evaporated milk and heat. Float common cracker on top of each serving. Salt and pepper to taste. Still as good today as it was many years ago. Some folks used cream and milk in place of evaporated milk. I wish I could dig some clams right now and make this for supper. Please don’t make it pasty with flour.
I do believe that your family must have known my family. We were from No Eastham and that was my great aunt’s recipe to a T. We were of the cream bent and loved to dig our own quahogs in the flats of Sunken Meadow Beach. Now living in Bristol, TN and miss chowdah sorely.
I, too, an a transplanted Yankee living in Eastern Tennessee. I used to make my chowder the same way, except I would add butter. I say “used to” because I cannot find any clams here. I miss my New England seafood as much as I miss my friends!
As a New England girl, I never add bacon, parsley or thyme to my Clam Chowder! New England cooking, while some think it’s bland, is made to taste the true ingredients. Please feel free to experiment, but please don’t call it classic New England anything!
Old NE family. No flour, no greens and no pork. Simmer diced onions in butter until clear, cook with potatoes in clam broth, add milk and clams. Cool completely, refrigerate overnight. Heat slowly, uncovered, never boil. When steaming add cream and serve with crackers. My husband’s family from the west coast like their chowder thickened with flour.
GREEN does NOT belong in clam chowder. That is absolute blasphemy! I am a Yankee from Glostah, where there would NEVAH be green in chowdah. NEVAH.
My Grandmother taught me how to make fish and clam chowder. I agree with using salt pork, no flour, and whole milk. This new kind of recipe sounds like the kind they serve in Monterey, CA not New England.
agree
Very upsetting that true Salt Pork/Fat Back has not been available since the Covid problems at pork processing plants. ONLY that will do. Bacon no where near the same taste,
Flour in clam chowder??? Yuk! Just plain Yuk!
A very well known and very popular NH seacoast seafood restaurant uses water and coffee creamer as a base for their clam chowder – no milk; no cream. And it’s won several awards for “best clam chowder”.
Dry/powdered creamer or liquid, such as Coffee Mate?
Yes – non dairy powdered coffee creamer.
I grew up in the Pacific NW, where we went out digging for razor clams in the early morning clam tides before school. That evening we’d have our mother’s delicious clam chowder…made with fresh razor clams, chopped potatoes, cooked bacon, clam broth from cooking the clams, milk, chopped parsley, salt and ground pepper to taste. Absolutely delicious! Not New England clam chowder, but the taste of my childhood. And btw, if you haven’t had razor clams you are missing a wonderful treat…either in clam chowder, or breaded in panko and quickly fried…they are SO GOOD!
Razor clams are the best. I spent many hours finding the “dimples” in the sand for my folks so they could dig the clams. You have to be really quick to catch those critters because they can dig themselves down out of reach. Clam chowder or clam fritters are yummy. We also raked for hard shelled clams on Sequim Bay on the Olympic Peninsula. Good for chowder, but best steamed and eaten on the half shell.
In Oregon on the coast, Mo’s c lam chowder puts in baby shrimp and we call it subtitling. It is excellant
What are “common crackers?”
Sorry this is a late response. Common crackers are similar to oyster crackers only much bigger. They’re very good. I read about them here. I ordered four boxes of them from the Vermont Country Store. You can get them in plain or cheddar.
Has anyone tried a tiny dash of sherry?
Yes. Delicious. Also some dill & Old Bay seasoning.
It’s funny as I have never been a clam chowda fan and it does not matter if it is made with cream, milk, tomato based or clear chowder. I do happen to love corn chowder, steamers and fried clams.
Every one of these comments should begin with the following sentence: This is how I like my clam chowder. I follow two Italian cooking sites on Facebook and they are equally protective of what they consider authentic. Chowder is a quick and effective way to use the abundant ingredients available to you to feed your family, often when your multitude of kids are getting underfoot and destroying your concentration. Now thats authentic. By the way, I made this last night and it was delicious