Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

3 lb (1.5 kg) littleneck clams in their shells, well scrubbed
1 cup (8 fl oz/250 ml) bottled clam juice or homemade fish stock ( see below)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
½ cup (3 oz/90 g) diced salt pork
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
2 Tbs all–purpose  flour
2 waxy red or white potatoes, about 10 oz (315g) total weights, diced.
3 cups (24 fl oz/ 750 ml) milk or half–and– half (half cream)
1 bay leaf
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
2 Tbs finely chopped fresh flat – leaf (Italian) parsley
Chowder crackers for garnish

How to prepare:

In a big pan over medium to high heat, add the clams and clam juice and bring to a boil.Continue cooking at a simmer , with the pan covered. Wait until the clams have opened, and remove the pot from the heat. Throw away the clams that have not opened. Remove all of the clams out of their shells, cut them if they are large ( reserve a few in the shells for the garnish)

Once you are done with that, strain the clam juice through a fine cheese-cloth. Once you are done, you will have about 1 1/2 cups. Set this aside

In a large pan over medium heat, melt butter, then add the onion and saute it until it softens. Then add the salt pork and continue to saute until the pork has fully cooked, and the onion is brown.

Then add the celery and continue to saute. Then add the flour and continue to cook. Then add in the clam juice, the potatoes, the milk, and the bay leaf. Raise the heat up a bit and  simmer. Cook until the potatoes become tender.

Now you may throw the bay leaf away, and season to your taste. Then add the parsley, shucked clams, and the reserved clams still in the shell. Cook this all for another minute ( to warm up the clams)

Pour the chowder into bowls and add crackers. You may serve!

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*(fish stock)

2 Tbs vegetable oil
2 lb (1kg) heads, skin, bones, and flesh of fresh white – fleshed fish, such as halibut or sea bass
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 carrots, unpeeled and cut into 2- inch (5- cm) pieces
6 fresh flat – leaf (Italian) parsley stems
2 celery stalks with leaves cut into 2 – inch (5 – cm) pieces
1 bay leaf
10 white peppercorns
5 fresh dill sprigs
1 lemon, thinly sliced

In a big pot over low heat, warm the oil and then saute the fish parts. Do not allow it to brown. Add all of the other ingredients in the pot , with just enough water to cover all of the ingredients. Then bring it all to a boil over medium heat. Then reduce the heat to a low and simmer for about 45 minutes, use a spoon to skim off the foam at the top. Add/ adjust seasoning if necessary.

Strain the fish stock in a bowl through a strainer lined with cheesecloth. Let it cool for an hour and then refrigerate ( covered) for at least thirty minutes. Remove the fat that has hardened at the surface and discard.

You may refrigerate this stock for up to three days if it will not be used right away. You may also freeze it for up to 3 months.

If desired, use shrimp, lobster shells, or crab instead of fish parts.

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Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 1 quart shucked clams
• ¼ pound salt pork, diced
• 1 large onion, finely sliced
• 3 medium – sized potatoes, sliced thin
• ½ tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 4 cups milk
• 6 split common crackers
• 2 Tbs butter

Preparation:

Split each clam’s head, so that its open flat. Rinse it in clam liquor to remove the grid, also remove the black cap. Then separate the soft part from the firm part. Save about a cup of the fattest clams. Squeeze out the dark part of the soft part with your thumb and forefinger. Then chop the firm body parts. Strain about 1/2 cup of the liquid. Cook the salt pork and remove when crisp. Then saute the onions, add the potatoes, and the salt and pepper. Stir this often, for about 10 minutes. Then add in the chopped clams and the liquid. Cover it all with water and allow it to cook for twenty minutes. Then add in the cleaned soft part of the clams and cook for a bit longer. When the clams become tender, add the milk and crackers. Remove from heat and allow the chowder to set and “ripen” for an hour.

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Ingredients:

• 8 ears fresh sweet corn
• 3 cups milk
• 3 cups chicken stock *(see below) or canned low – sodium chicken broth
• 1Tbs unsalted butter
• 1 Tbs all – purpose flower
• Fresh milled black pepper
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 ½ cups chopped cherrystone clams (Reserve ½ cup clam juice) – Salt to taste
• 2 Tbs chives, snipped

Preperation

With a knife, cut all of the kernels away from the cob and then place it in a soup kettle. Then with a small spoon, scrape away the pulp and the milk from the cobs in the kettle. Then add the milk and the stock and allow it to simmer. In a smaller bowl, mix butter and flour together to form a smooth paste. Whisk this paste into the pepper. Let it all simmer for about 15 minutes, making sure to stir every once in a while. Then add in the chopped clams and the juice that you had reserved, and allow it to simmer again. Then add in salt and season to your preferred taste. You are now ready to serve! Pour into bowls and add a touch of snipped chives to each bowl!

Chicken stock Ingredients:

• 5 pounds chicken bones
• 2 medium onions, peeped and coarsely chopped
• 3 celery ribs, coarsely chopped
• 2 leeks, green part only, washed and chopped
• 1tsp. thyme
• 1tsp. rosemary
• 2 bay leaves
• 15 peppercorns
• 6 parsley sprigs
• 1 large clove garlic

Preparation:

Under cold water, rinse the bones. Then place the remaining ingredients in a pot. Add in the bones and just enough water to cover it all. Then bring it all to a boil, and then lower the heat to a low. Let it simer at a low for two hours, removing the foam that comes to the surface.

Then line a strainer with cheesecloth( dampened) and ladle the stock into the strainer, press gently on the bones and vegetables to release the liquid.  Then remove all of the solids that are left behind and allow your chicken stock to cool. Then cover and put in the fridge, remove the solid fat at the top after it has cooled.

You may refrigerate it for up to three days, but it will stay frozen for 6 months.

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New England clam chowder is certainly something to rave about, its special, unique and a dish to celebrate!

Because I love clam chowder so much, I would like nothing more than to offer you some of my own personal experience advice about picking and choosing your clams, after all they are the most essential component. An ideal choice for the clam is the quahog, which is the hard- shelled bivalve that lasts long and has an incredible flavor to boost! There are several other great choices however, like the Pismo clam, or butter clam. Anyways, what you have to remember is to pick the freshest variety. Store bought clams just don’t quite cut it ! So dig them up the day of or before you plan to make the dish.  Slice them, don’t mice or dice them. About salt pork, just add a bit, just a hint. Use common round crackers, and add them to the chowder before serving. You may split them and add while cooking, and then add a few more right before serving.

Make sure you follow the recipe instructions, cooking chowder takes a certain precision and perfection! Good luck !

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Ingredients: Serves 10

• 36 clams, shucked, and their juice
• 2 ounces salt pork
• 6 medium – sized potatoes
• 2 large onions
• 4 cups water
• 2 small bay leaves, crumbled
• 2 tbsp butter, softened
• 2 ½ tbsp flour
• 5 cups milk
• 3 cups light cream
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preparation:

Take the clams and strain them, remove all shell bits. Take the clam juice and set aside for reserve. Take the hard parts of the clam and dice them, but do not do anything to the soft part. Take the salt pork and dice it, then saute until it turns a golden color. Then take the potatoes, and peel them. Proceed to dice the potatoes and the onions. Then add the potatoes, the onions, the bay leaves, and the water to the salt pork. Boil this mixture for a while just until the potatoes have become tender.

While you are doing this, mix the butter and the flour. Then add this mixture, the milk, the cream, the clams, and the clam juice to the potato and salt pork mixture. Stir this over a low heat, until it all comes to a boil and starts to thicken. Then lower the heat and allow it to simmer for another five minutes.

Meanwhile blend the butter and flour. Add this milk, the cream, the clams, and their juice to the potato mixture. Stir over low heat until the soup comes to a low boil and thickens slightly.
Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. You are now ready to serve.

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Serve 6 to 8

Ingredients:

• 1 pint quahog meat and liquor (usually about 18 to 24 clams)
• ¼ pound salt pork, diced
• 2 quarts of water
• 6 medium onions, diced
• Salt, if desired, to taste
• Sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper when served

Preparation:

You may choose to either steam the clams open, or manually open them with a knife. Either way you do it, make sure to scrub the clams beforehand. As soon as the shells open, remove from the heat and let it cool. If this is not done the clam meat  will harden. Throw away the shells and reserve the meat. Save the clam broth that collected in the steamer and strain through cheesecloth.

Wash the salt pork that will be used and dice. Then put in a skillet until the fat has rendered, and then lower the heat or else it will burn. Remove the pork husk  and set aside. Then bring about 2 quarts of water to a boil and add potatoes and the pork husks. Cook this over medium heat until the potatoes are tender but not mushy.

cook the onions in the fat that was rendered, over medium heat until they are soft and colorful. When the potatoes have cooked, remove the pan from the heat and add the clams and the clam broth. Then add in the onions and the rendered fat. Season to taste if desired. Boil this chowder for another four minutes, and then turn off the heat. Let the chowder set for about an hour. If it is kept warm on the stove it will gain more and more flavor!

You are now ready to serve, ladle the chowder into bowls and add some pepper to each bowl as well as some crackers.

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