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Every amateur chef should have a good clam chowder in their repertoire. It’s a great dish that’s easy to make and perfect for a crowd. While I don’t think of clam chowder as a typical alfresco meal, I do associate it with summer. Particularly those rainy summer nights when you’d like to be outside but the weather keeps you in. I grew up spending my summer vacations at my grandparents lake house in Michigan. While my sisters and I were always blue about rainy days, the silver lining was we could head to the Beach Bar for a big bowl of our favorite chowder.
As my culinary inclinations developed I set out to develop my own clam chowder recipe that was just as good as the Beach Bar’s. I began my quest for the perfect clam chowder recipe by searching through my cookbooks and crawling the web. After finding dozens of recipes, I set to work experimenting with the ones that seemed best.
My Search for the Perfect Clam Chowder
I began my experimentation by comparing recipes that used fresh clams to recipes that used canned clams (or a mix of fresh and canned). Next, I experimented with bacon versus pancetta versus salt pork and no pork. I also explored using heavy cream, half and half, milk, and a milk/cream mix. Lastly, I played around with the herbs and spices.
While at first I was aiming to replicate the beach bar clam chowder from my childhood, I eventually realized my taste preferences had evolved. In the end I created a more unique recipe that showcases my favorite ingredients including loads of fresh herbs and celery root. If you’ve never had celery root I recommend you try it. It’s like a cross between a potato and celery. Celery root adds a nice complexity to recipes. I sneak it into all kinds of recipes that feature potatoes (potato leek soup, mashed potatoes, and this clam chowder).
My Clam Chowder
This recipe doesn’t use fresh clams. I find it’s not worth the time and expense. For the pork product, I selected pancetta. While I’m a big fan of bacon, I don’t love it in clam chowder. I find it overpowers the clam flavor. Pancetta provides a nice saltiness and depth without being to overpowering. For the dairy, I chose to go with whole milk. I thicken the soup by adding flour to the onion potato mixture (almost like making a roux). This seems a bit healthier to me and I like the result. Lastly, I load my chowder with a mix of dried and fresh herbs. While I don’t think my clam chowder is the most traditional New England clam chowder recipe, it certainly seems to be popular with our guests.
Sarah’s Clam Chowder
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6–8 servings 1x
- Cuisine: Soup
Description
This chowder takes less than an hour to make an will feed a crowd of 6 to 8. Serve it with a big green salad and crusty loaf of french bread.
Ingredients
- ½ lb pancetta
- 1 large yellow onion, peeled and diced
- 1 large shallot, peeled and diced
- 2 celery stocks, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 lb baby red potatoes (7-9), chopped into ½ inch cubes
- ½ pound celery root (celeriac), peeled and chopped into ½ inch cubes
- ¼ cup flour
- 2 8 oz bottles clam juice
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 4 cans chopped clams
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 bunch fresh chives, chopped
Instructions
- In a large dutch oven, cook the pancetta over medium heat until nicely browned (approximately 10 mintues). Turn with tongs ever couple of minutes. Remove cooked pancetta from pan and set on paper towel lined plate.
- Add onion, shallot, and celery to pan and cook until soft and translucent (approximately 8 minutes). Add garlic and cook another 2 or 3 minutes.
- Add potatoes and celery root. Cook another 8 minutes stirring often. Then add the flour cook another minute or two stirring until veggies are well coated.
- Add the clam juice, chicken stock and dried herbs. Bring to a boil and then let simmer until veggies are soft (approximately 20 minutes).
- Remove bay leaves. Use an immersion blender to partially blend your soup to the desired consistency. See notes.
- Add the milk and clams and heat through. Chop the cooked pancetta and add to the soup.
- Stir in most of the parsley and chives but set some aside for garnishing individual servings.
Notes
I like to use an immersion blender to partially blend the potato, celery root, and onion mixture. This helps to create a thick and creamy consistency but still preserves plenty of potato chunks.
I put 4 cans of clams in my recipe which is more than most. I like a hearty meaty soup. You can use 2 or 3 can is this sounds like too much. Add them one at a time and see what you think.
