Home Made New England Clam Chowder
This recipe dates back to the MId-1800’s in the Richardson Family
Ingredients:
10 Lbs White Potatoes
5 lbs White.(or Vidalia) onions
1/4 Lb salt Pork
six 10 oz. Cans of Diced or whole baby clams
1/2 Gallon of Regular Milk
1 Pint of Half and Half Cream
1 Quarter Pound stick of real butter (salted, or unsalted –your choice)
2 Tablespoons of Salt
1 Tablespoon of Ground Black Pepper
Preparation:
Peel potatoes and dice them into 3/4″ diameter pieces (Keep in water until use)
Peel and dice onions into pieces up to 1 inch
Drain cans of clams into a colander and SAVE juice (liquor) separately in a mixing bowl or pan.
Separate and SAVE drained clams remaining in colander, also.
Dice salt pork into very small pieces and fry in a very hot stockpot until cooked down (like crisp bacon)
Remove pork pieces from hot fat and allow to blot onto paper towels or paper napkins (to remove fat) and save.
Retain 2-4 tablespoons of hot (pork) fat in bottom of stockpot, and then stir in diced onion.
Continue by cooking onions until (gray) marbleized.
Then, add all of your clam juice to stockpot along with 4 cans (empty clam cans will do) full of water
Drain your diced potatoes, add them to the stockpot contents, and bring them to a boil for NO MORE than 8 minutes
IMPORTANT! You want to cook your potatoes to “Al Dente” done ness (slightly undercooked) because they will continue to cook a bit during subsequent stages of preparation, and you don’t want them overcooked, soft, or soggy.
Add salt pork and stir in
Add milk and stir in
Add half and half and stir in
Add clams and stir them in
Add butter stick and let float
Stir in salt and pepper
Turn heat to lowest setting and allow to simmer (but never boil) until butter is melted and is no longer floating on top. After butter is fully melted, continue to simmer at this low temperature (never allowing to boil) for an additional 20-30 minutes.
SERVE OVER OYSTER CRACKERS
What happens here:
By boiling potatoes in clam juice mixture, you are “cooking in” the clam
flavor.
By never allowing clams to boil, they will not get tough.
By never allowing mixture to boil, we are not allowing the milk and cream to
curdle.
By slightly undercooking potatoes, they will retain shape and integrity
throughout the recipe.
By blotting the salt pork, we are reducing unnecessary animal fat in this
recipe.