Elizabeth June 20th, 2009

Boston taught me several things during my 3-month stay in New England: Baseball is a religion (and Fenway Park is holy ground); walking across the Charles River in early January will leave you so cold that you lose all sensation in your legs; and…

… one of the best ways to warm up again is with New England Clam Chowder.

Photo from Portland Mercury

A few months ago Tim and I discovered the tinned Campbells variety in the imported food section at David Jones. It was a surprise discovery, after searching high and low for it throughout the city. However, at $7 per can we were only dedicated enough to buy two, and we savoured every last drop.

It was good, but it wasn’t exactly the same as the stuff we ate in Boston.

I pledged to make it from scratch one day, but problems arose when I went searching for a recipe. There are so many varieties of this chowder – even within New England itself – and no two recipes were ever the same! After reading pages of debate on the topic of fresh vs tinned clams, I think I lost heart and forgot about the whole thing.

Until a couple of days ago, when I discovered tinned baby clams and threw them in my shopping trolley. It was time to just pick a recipe and run with it – and this is the one we made tonight!

Warning: Your arteries will hate you for even reading this.

INGREDIENTS
Serves 4 people as a main course

3 x rashers middle bacon
2 x 200g tins of baby clams (drained, juice reserved)
1 x finely chopped onion
1 x large stalk celery, diced
4 x medium potatoes, cubed
2 x medium carrots, diced
3 x bay leaves
130g butter
70g plain flour
2 x 300mL cartons of single cream (or light cream)
150mL milk
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh parsley, chopped

METHOD

• Fry the bacon until cooked. Remove the bacon from the pan to drain, and add the potatoes, onion, celery and carrot to the remaining bacon fat. Cook for a minute to soften.
• Add the reserved clam juice, and extra water until the vegetables are just covered. Add bay leaves, and simmer gently until the potatoes are tender.
• While the vegetables simmer, melt the butter in a large saucepan. Whisk in the flour to create a smooth mixture, and then add the cream and milk. Combine until smooth, being careful to not bring the mixture to the boil.
• When tender, pour the vegetables and clam juice into the cream. Gently combine ingredients, and remove the bay leaves. Add salt, and generous amounts of cracked pepper.
• Add clams, sliced bacon and red wine vinegar, and continue to stir over a gentle heat until the clams are cooked through. Be careful not to overcook, as the clams will become tough.
• Serve, and garnish with fresh parsley and extra pepper.

Were you thrown by the red wine vinegar? I know I was. The recipe that I followed (and modified) promised incredible things from this ingredient, but I really wasn’t convinced until I tried it myself. I thought that the chowder was very bland and uninteresting until the addition of that last ingredient, and somehow it managed to tie everything together and give it all a butt-kicking. Don’t be put off by this strange addition!

Luckily for me, I have ready access to the critique of a true New Englander who really loved it. I’m so happy to have found this recipe, and to have crossed another country off my recipe challenge!

• 101 in 1001 , Food , Recipes
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