Clam Chowder

It was a cold Monday and the talk at Little Peach turned to clam chowder. The authentic creamy stuff versus that red stuff they serve in Rhode Island. Or so we thought. What is the authentic clam chowder in a world with a thousand different versions? Hey, you're asking a historian so my answer would be to seek out the original recipe and on the way to find the recipe for chowder the way mother used to make it.

By the way this is worst kind of historical research. It's easier to know about Julius Caesar than discover when the first French cook made fish stew in a cauldron and forgot to write the recipe down for le chaudree. Fishermen probably made a stew of water, hard cracker, fish and sometimes butter and onions on shipboard from time immemorial. All the ingredients were readily available on long voyages. The sharks that followed ships to eat the garbage were prime targets for the stew. Potatoes were added after the discovery of the New World although apparently not in New England until the 18th century. Here is the first American recipe for a fish stew from the Boston Evening Post of 1751:
  

First lay some Onions to keep the Pork from burning
Because in Chouder there can be not turning;
Then lay some Pork in slices very thin,
Thus you in Chouder always must begin.
Next lay some Fish cut crossways very nice
Then season well with Pepper, Salt, and Spice;
Parsley, Sweet-Marjoram, Savory, and Thyme,
Then Biscuit next which must be soak'd some Time.
Thus your Foundation laid, you will be able
To raise a Chouder, high as Tower of Babel;
For by repeating o'er the Same again,
You may make a Chouder for a thousand men.
Last a Bottle of Claret, with Water eno; to smother 'em,
You'll have a Mess which some call Omnium gather 'em.

The pork was probably salt pork. Layering the ingredients was an important part of all the early chowder recipes I saw and you can see a lot of them at The New England Chowder Compendium.

My research uncovered two styles of white chowders and many styles of red. The Italians and Portuguese, unlike Americans, were quick to adopt tomatoes as an ingredient in cooking, and so they arrived in America with fish stews made with the red fruit. Exactly when is a mystery-there were Portuguese living in Massachusetts in the 18th century (one actually served  for Easton in the Revolution). The two major styles of red clam chowder are the Manhattan and the Rhode Island. The Rhode Island is red from tomato juice, paste, or ketshup, the Manhattan has chunks of tomato. The name Manhattan may have come from disgusted New Englanders who thought everything awful came from that big city on the Hudson. I also learned there were two styles of white chowder, the Cape Cod and the Maine. In Maine the chowder is plain and made with steamers while the Cape Cod is made from quahogs and is likely to have more seasoning and ingredients. These two varieties are served indiscriminately throughout Massachusetts.

Now for the bad news. The first recipe for a chowder with clams came in 1833 when Lydia Maria Child's cookbook notes that "a few clams are a pleasant addition" to her fish chowder recipe. She also recommended adding tomato ketshup. One could argue that this was not a true chowder, but a very poor version of bouillabaisse.

With all due respect to Miss Child, I don't think the first clam chowder made in Massachusetts had ketshup. Laying aside worthy Native American claims to having invented clam chowder, I would argue that the fishermen who made the first clam chowder probably made it in a similar fashion to the 1751 recipe above. As proof, I offer a recipe from the much maligned state of Rhode Island. It turns out there is a lesser known Rhode Island chowder that is made along the south coast. It contains neither dairy products nor tomatoes:

Serves 6

4	cups chopped sea clams
4	cups (32 ounces) bottled clam broth
2	cups water
1/4	onion, finely chopped
4	tablespoons unsalted butter
1	bay leaf
1	teaspoon coarse salt, or more to taste
1	teaspoon black pepper
4	russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch dice

1. In large flameproof casserole, combine the clams, clam broth, water, onion, butter, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Set over high heat and bring to a boil.

2. Add the potatoes and let the liquid return to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer the chowder for 40 minutes or until the potatoes are tender but not falling apart.

3. With a slotted spoon, remove 1/2 cup of the potatoes. In a food processor, work the potatoes to form a puree. Stir them back into the chowder. Taste for seasoning and add more salt, if you like. Adapted from Evelyn's Drive-In, from the August 27, 2008 Boston Globe. 

For supporters of the white chowder's primacy, I'll add the following recipe from the Union Oyster House, the oldest continuously operated restaurant in America. It opened in 1826 and this recipe, may be the descendent of the original one that predates Ms. Child by a decade (I say may be because there is another Union Oyster House recipe floating around that contains celery).

10 cups clam juice
2 pounds baking potatoes, like russets, peeled and diced
4 pounds fresh or frozen clams, shelled and diced
1/4 pound salt pork, diced
2 small onions, diced
1 cup butter
1 cup flour
2 pints half-and-half
Salt and pepper
Dash hot pepper sauce
Dash Worcestershire sauce

Bring the potatoes and the clam juice to the boil. Cook until the potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add the clams and any of their liquid. Cook about 5 minutes. Set aside.

Add the pork to a sauté pan and cook over low heat until rendered. Add the onions and cook until transparent. Add the butter and allow it to melt. Add the flour and cook until slightly colored. Add a bit more flour if necessary if the mixture is too soft. Bring the clams, juice and potatoes back to the boil. Gradually stir in the cooked roux. Bring to a rolling boil to thicken. Stir continuously while cooking. Beat the half-and-half and add to the soup. It may not be necessary to use all the half-and-half; the soup should be thick. Adjust the seasoning and add a dash of hot pepper sauce and Worcestershire sauce before serving.

Yield: 10 servings

 Be a little suspicious here since Worcestershire Sauce wasn't commercialized until 1837. However, fermented fish sauces were back in use (the Romans loved the stuff) by the 17th century in Europe so it is possible that the original recipe contained a Worcestershire precursor. The history of hot pepper sauce is too complicated to get into, but American versions are generally a hot pepper variety in vinegar and salt certainly nothing beyond an early 19th century chef.

Tomorrow: The search for my mother's recipe for clam chowder and blueberry cake!