New England Clam Chowder

Growing up in Massachusetts gives me fond memories of clam chowder.  A few weeks ago Amazon brought me Thomas Keller’s ad-hoc at home, which included a recipe for the New England classic.  A cold Sunday and a few hours to kill had me brave enough to attempt the soup.  Generally, I like making soups…and this was no exception.  A rich creamy soup, with fresh clams, bacon on a cold night.  Yes, please.

What I didn’t fully realize was just how laborious a process it was to make.  After cleaning out the nearest Whole Foods of their clam collection, I headed back home to make my soup.  I figured an hour maybe 2 to make it.  More like almost 3.5 start to finish.  It started out scrubbing the clams to get any grime, sand, and salt off the shells.  Then I soaked the clams in a saltwater bath.  Twice.  This was to further get the salt and sand out of the clams.  As those were bathing, I chopped a ton of leeks and onions and potatoes.

I chopped the bacon, and cooked it till it was soft, but cooked and then took it an put it to the side.  The onions and leeks then cooked in the bacon fat for about 35 minutes under a parchment lid.  I had never tried a parchment lid…I’m not sure it helped…but it was fun to make.

I boiled the potatoes till they were just soft (as the recipe said) then let them cool on a tray.  The potatoes were added back to the soup later, this seemed to help keep them from becoming mushy.

Now oodles of cream and whole milk joined the onions and created the base for the chowder.  Shallots and garlic went into a skillet with some white wine.  These cooked down for a bit and the clams were added to them and covered.  As the clams opened, we pulled the meat out and discarded the shells.  The white wine, shallot and clam sauce was strained and then added to the soup base.  This gave the soup a saltly, clammy, taste.

I added most of the clams to the soup, and then crisped up the bacon in a skillet. The soup was served up with a bit of bacon, chives, and a clam as garnish.

It was the richest, tastiest chowder I have ever had.  Keller scores a point for this one.