Awesome Clam Chowder!

15 years ago

I had a hankering for clam chowder this week, but didn't have the time to make it the way I usually do. I found this recipe on Recipezaar and it seemed easy enough to send to DH and let him take the lead.

Let me tell you, I've had A LOT of clam chowder in my time and this stuff ROCKED!! I'm in Florida, and have loved clam chowder all my life...so I have high standards. I was impressively surprised and it is so, so, so easy! Don't be a hater because of the Cream of Celery soup, trust me!

Clam Chowder

Recipe Source: Recipezaar

6-7 pieces bacon, cut into small pieces

1 medium onion, chopped

2 (5 ounce) cans baby clams, with juice reserved (drain juice into a bowl or cup)

1 bottle clam juice

5 potatoes, peeled and cubed into 2" chunks

2 (10 1/2 ounce) cans cream of celery soup

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup milk

1 Â½ tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon dried dill weed (if you donÂt have dill weed, use thyme)

1 tsp pepper

Salt to taste

Add bacon to dutch oven and cook on medium heat until crispy. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add clam juice from both cans plus bottle of clam juice. Add potatoes, bring to a simmer, and cover until potatoes are fork tender, about 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally so potatoes won't stick. Add clams, soup, cream, milk, dill weed, and stir together. Add butter and let melt into the chowder, then add pepper. Simmer for about 30-45 minutes or until thickened. Stir occasionally and add salt to taste.

NOTE: This can be lightened by using all milk instead of cream.

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Comments (14)

mustangs81
15 years ago
Kathy, I'll be trying this one! I even have a bottle of clam juice, wonder what the shelf life is on that.

My search is for the best Crab Bisque recipe.
angelaid
15 years ago
Shrimp Bisque

1/4 c. chopped onion
1/4 c. chopped celery
1/4 c. chopped carrots
6 T. butter, melted
3 T. flour
2 c. chicken broth, do not add water
dash of salt
1/4 t. cayenne
1/2 t. hot sauce
2 cups Half & Half or cream
2 lb. shrimp

In large sauce pan, bring chicken broth to boil and add shrimp. Heat until just done, don't overcook. Strain, reserving broth and setting aside cooked shrimp.

Saute' onion, celery, and carrots in 3 T. butter, in large saucepan over low heat, approx. 2-3 min. till tender. Add reserved chicken broth, salt, and cayenne and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.

Pour this mixture into container of a blender; process until smooth. Add cream to mixture and process until blended. In large saucepan, melt remaining 3 T. of butter and slowly whisk in flour. Gradually whisk in liquid mixture. When all liquid has been incorporated, add shrimp. Cook until thoroughly heated.

Serve this hearty soup with warm french bread and a salad.

The original recipe called for just Â¼ lb. of shrimp. I used 2Â½ lbs. and if you're a shrimp lover, I think Â¼ lb. is pretty skimpy. I'm just guessing on the amount of hot sauce & cayenne that I used. It should have a slight kick but you can use more or less, to taste. You can use this same recipe with fresh crab meat or a combination of shrimp & crab.
Related Discussions
re-canning baby clams
Q
Comments (6)
Well first, only pints are approved for any product containing clams so you'd have to restrict yourself to pints - no quarts. No processing time is provided for quarts and even if there was one it would likely be well over 3 hours since pints are 1 hr. and 40 minutes. So this is one of those cases where the cost of processing would outweigh any convenience gained. Especially so since you already have the canned clams and the frozen potatoes so can easily make it just before serving. ;) Second, you'd have to can it by the soups rule of 1/2 and 1/2 so it would be much more diluted that you are used to - more watery than normal clam chowder and less desirable IMO. Some recipes can only be stored long term as separate components and then mixed and cooked at serving time and this is one of them I think. And yes, you would have to use the same pressure canning processing time even if you leave out the salt pork. Removing ingredients does not affect required processing time as a general rule. But all that may be moot because there are no approved recipes for re-canning any seafood products that I know of or can find. NCHFP stipulates fresh clams only. Re-canning just like re-freezing is strongly discouraged. In the case of seafood this is likely because seafood (esp. clams) are high botulism risk foods. So sorry, but I would have to say no on this one but wait and see what others suggest, ok? Especially Linda Lou as she knows all the exceptions to the rules that are allowed. Dave
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California GOLD Clam Chowder
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Basic New England Style Clam Chowder is extremely easy to make. Ingredients are Potatos ( Well boiled to the point of becoming mashable ) Clams Clam Juice Onions ( Chopped ) Milk or Cream or Sour Cream Black Pepper or Crushed Pepper Corns. Alternate or Additonal Ingredients ... Butter Mixed Veggies ( Peas, Carrots, Corn, Grean Beans ) Now let's get something down about the potatoes. You need to boil the heck out of them so that they start to break down into semi-mashable form, but leaving lumps of potato. You can probably get away with cutting up a couple spuds and boiling them and them supplementing the effort with instant mash potato flakes. It's ok to cheat. Cream is better than milk. Clam Chowder is meant to be a rich warming energy food, suitable for a cold night on the beach. Legend has it that its origins go back to clam diggers who tossed together chowder impromptu on the beach after digging their own clams. As far as spices go, black pepper is typically all and it is added at the table as preferred. But you are free to experiment with spices. To make California Gold chowder, things are somewhat similar. However, substitute cross-cut scallions, including some of the greens, for the onions. I like to use sour cream as it is thicker than cream. Not so Secret addititives ... Melt butter in a separate pot. Add lemon juice Add crushed garlic. Secret additive. Add crushed safflower, enough to yellow, not to orange or redden. When the basic New England Stuff is done cook'n and the butter, lemon juice, garlic, safflower stuff is done cook'n in a separate pot, mix the two parts together, folding the yellow stuff into the white stuff lightly so as to create and not to destroy the visual effect of rivulets or veins of Gold. If you do it right, the yellow stuff should rise and form rivulets that remain separate from the white potato/sour cream stuff ... a very pleasing visual effect and tasty too. The rivulets will ride distinctly upon the basic chowder and will have a rich golden color. Note that you can't preserve this effect by canning or bottling this mixture. You'll ruin it. To get the effect, you gotta do it at the instant. Safflower is a bit expensive, but you don't need much and it is added more for visual effect than flavor. Safflower flavor is very subtle. It's always nice to add a little crab meat or some chopped scallops to California Gold chowder. If you know how to make cheesy bread, it goes good with California Gold Chowder and you can use the secret additive to make a California Gold Cheesy Bread. Get a sour dough loaf and cut evenly top from bottom. Make up a second batch of the yellow mixture and butter the two halves with it. Top with shredded Mozzarella or White Cheddar. Broil until the cheese melts and slightly browns on Aluminum Foil or in a pyrex baking pan. Enjoy. If you have some secret sauce left over, saute' some prawns ( aka scampi or mediumor large shrimps ) in it to complete the meal. Guess what I've go in my cupboard and fridge at this very moment? :)
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Canned Clams - multi part question
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Comments (12)
Thanks all! We're on the upswing right now I think. A week ago it was pretty bad and I was a wreck. I knew she wouldn't eat clams but I gave it a shot. I put the rest in the fridge. Will they still be ok for us mere humans to eat tomorrow or Saturday? Just didn't feel like chowder tonight - it's too hot. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice and nippy. :-) I swung by the store tonight and bought a few flavors of Fancy Feast that she used to not like. For some reason the flavors she used to eat (all seafood) she will have no part of now. Anyway she ate some chicken fancy feast so that's good. Maybe the bad teeth were making foods taste different. I've been marveling at the fact she has eaten so much tuna the last 2 weeks. Before she would only drink a teaspoon of the tuna liquid and wouldn't touch the tuna itself. I'll try some baby food too and see how that goes.
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Southern Illinois Chowder?
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Comments (5)
It does sound a lot like our burgoo ( which I've never had, BTW), which is like a slow-cooked stew. The method used in Illinois is the same as used here at outdoor events; cooked in large pots, usually iron, over an open fire. To me, chowder has always been made with seafood, like clam chowder, but apparently that's not the case. Whatever you want to call it, bpath's chowder sounds yummy to me !
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rob333 (zone 7b)
15 years ago
I keep wanting to try good clam chowder. We don't get very good seafood here since we're landlocked. That looks good.

A good crab bisque? I have tried and tried and tried it, it's a a very true recipe. My absolute favorite.

Williams-Sonoma Crab Bisque
The best-tasting crabmeat comes from crabs you cook yourself. If you have access to live crabs, use them to make this bisque. Two 2-lb. Dungeness crabs or eight to ten hard-shelled blue crabs will yield about 1 lb. of crabmeat. You can also buy cooked crabs and extract the meat. Fresh lump crabmeat is the next-best option, especially if you are short on time; look for it at fish markets. Otherwise, use frozen or canned crabmeat, drained and quickly rinsed.

Ingredients:
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 Tbs. canola or grapeseed oil
3 large shallots, minced
5 cups fish or chicken stock
2 cups heavy cream
Kosher salt and freshly ground white pepper,
to taste
3/4 to 1 lb. fresh or thawed frozen lump
crabmeat, picked over for shell fragments
(3 to 4 cups)
1/2 cup dry sherry, dry Marsala or Madeira

Minced fresh tarragon or flat-leaf parsley
for garnish

Directions:
In a large soup pot over medium heat, melt the butter with the oil. Add the shallots and sautÃ© until translucent, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the stock and cream, and season with kosher salt and white pepper. Bring to a simmer.

Reduce the heat to low and stir in the crabmeat. Cook until heated through, about 5 minutes. Stir in the sherry and heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Ladle the soup into warmed shallow bowls and garnish with tarragon. Serve immediately. Serves 8.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Collection Series, Christmas, by Carolyn Miller (Simon & Schuster, 2003).

Here is a link that might be useful: Crab Bisque
mustangs81
15 years ago
Kathy, This turns out to be a 3fer for me! I'll be trying all three-Clam, Shrimp, Crab.

Thanks all.
annie1992
15 years ago
Mmmm, it all looks good, even given the CofC soup, LOL.

Here there's nothing except canned clams, so that's what I'd have to use, as well as frozen shrimp and/or canned or frozen crab.

I'll still love it all, I'm sure. Thanks, everyone!

Annie
User
15 years ago
Hmmmm......

I have some Alaska King Crab leg meat leftover from a crab binge two nights ago , made stock from the shells so I have that too.

I've been trying to decide what to do with the leftover crab meat and had settled on crab cakes but it wasn't doing it for me.....maybe the bisque. With a salad we could call that supper!

Thanks !
mustangs81
15 years ago
Trying to decide what to do with the leftover AKC!!!

Now that's funny.
lyndaluu2
15 years ago
All three recipes sound so good!!!
Must try them...copied and pasted. LOL

Linda
shaun
15 years ago
Oh now you went and did it! I've got a pot of this clam chowder on the stove right now....I'm at the cooking the potatoes in the clam juice right now, haven't added the cream or clams yet.

So much for my low carb eating.....drats!

I'll let you know how mine comes out!
shaun
15 years ago
My son is scared to taste it. My husband says, "I usually order Bahamian Conch Chowder"..... I said, "That isn't on the menu tonight!!"

Why do I do this? I guess for myself. I love clam chowder. hee hee!

The chowder isn't done yet, I'll post back on the results!!
mustangs81
15 years ago
You are too funny Shaun! He should know by now that Conch Chowder is just a tourist thing down here.
shaun
15 years ago
Well hubs said it was good. I say it was GREAT!
momof2doxies
15 years ago
I have been craving clam chowder. Copying and pasting to try this weekend.
Thanks.
Linda
lindac
15 years ago
Anyone like Manhatten clam chowder? I love it!!
Linda c

Awesome Clam Chowder!

Comments (14)

mustangs81

angelaid

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