Julia Child’s Favorite Fish Chowder
From the beloved chef comes a classic New England fish chowder recipe with a hint of a French accent. Her fish chowder is expertly flavored with salt pork and thickened with crumbled crackers.
By Yankee Magazine|Sep 07 2021|
Coffee By Design | Portland, Maine
Photo Credit : Katherine KeenanBy all measures, Julia Child’s favorite fish chowder is a truly traditional fish chowder recipe. First, it’s made with fish, not clams, in the style of the oldest recorded recipes. It uses salt pork rather than bacon, also traditional. And common crackers and potatoes thicken the broth, rather than flour. But somehow, knowing that Julia Child loved this recipe also makes it feel just a little bit French.
Perhaps it’s the way she slices the onions into thin rounds, in the style of French onion soup. (The potatoes are also sliced, not cubed in the way of most chowders.) Or maybe it’s because some of the earliest fish chowder recipes can be traced back to coast of France, where the stews were cooked in large vessels called chaudieres. Whatever the reason, this delicious recipe for fish chowder, which we’ve adapted slightly, has Julia’s stamp of approval, and it should be a regular part of your repertoire.
Salt pork, which is similar to bacon but unsmoked, can vary in its saltiness, so Julia recommends blanching it first, then browning it in just a bit of butter. The rest of the process will look very familiar to anyone who has cooked fish chowder before. For slicing the potatoes and onions, we recommend a mandoline, which produces thin, even slices in very little time.
Julia Child’s Favorite Fish Chowder, adapted from The Way to Cook by Julia Child (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1989).
Yield:
8 servingsIngredients
4 ounces salt pork, diced small
1 tablespoon salted butter
2 large onions, sliced thin (about 3 cups)
1 bay leaf
3/4 cup crumbled “common” crackers or oyster crackers
4 cups liquid (we prefer fish stock or a mixture of 2 cups clam juice and 2 cups water)
3 large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into thin half-moons
2 cups milk or light cream
2 to 2 1/2 pounds boneless and skinless lean fish, such as cod, hake, haddock, halibut, or pollock, cut into 2-inch chunks
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Garnish: Minced fresh parsley, oyster crackers
Instructions
In a Dutch oven, heat about 1 quart of water to boiling; add the salt pork and simmer 5 minutes. Drain in a sieve and rinse under cold water. Press dry with paper towels. Combine salt pork and butter back in the Dutch oven over low heat and sauté until the pork has rendered its fat and begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the onions and bay leaf. Cover and cook until the onions are tender and translucent, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the cracker crumbs and stir to blend.
Add the liquid and the potatoes to the onion mixture. Heat to boiling over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer, loosely covered, until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
Add the milk or cream and the chunks of fish. Cover and cook over low heat just until the fish turns from translucent to opaque, 2 to 3 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.
In my book anything that Julia made I would eat be numerous times as long as her receipe is followed.
In the recipe Julia Child’s Favorite Fish Chowder, what can be substituted for salt port? My guests do not eat pork.
Maybe turkey bacon
No! Pork bacon (unless cannot eat pork, turkey will have to do) ☹️
Can you tell us what was “adapted” from Julia Child’s recipe (you say “which we’ve adapted slightly”) and why?
Butter, turkey bacon would be an abomination
How about “facon bits”?
I live in Maine (where J. Had a nearby summer home). This is perfect! Made it SO many times. (I use fresh clams I steamed, shaved ythe broth & shucked, but canned WHOLE clams will work.
That is the recipe for NE fish chowder that came to me from my grandmother except she did not thicken it with cracker crumbs, the common crackers were floated on top. And she used evaporated milk in place of milk or cream, it made it less watery. It was, and still is, delicious!
Salt pork was traditional, NOT bacon, and whole fish was used for stock by making a broth from the bones. You have to think why fish chowder was made in the first place many years ago. they did not use canned clam broth. FISH BONES and heads, people. They did not slice onions and potatoes on a mandolin to make fish chowder.
mellow out dude
As a youngster, I remember my mother making fish chowder. Don’t remember what kind of fish she used, but whatever kind of fish she used, the chowder was yummy! Oh, for the good old days! She also made a yummy corn chowder.
Very helpful site.
In my opinion classic recipes from bygone days should be preserved forever. Those who for personal reasons cannot use certain ingredients should just skip them instead of inserting faux foods…( such as turkey bacon).
Please note if you changed Julia’s recipe then it was no longer her recipe, it was someone else’s !
butter can be used rather than salt pork
I agree…why change an heirloom Julia Child recipe? Give us the real original!
This happens time and again with recipes on this site and people always complain.
Do you have recipe for “Cape Ann Chowder” ?