Where to buy fresh clams? The secret to this delicious clam chowder recipe is fresh clams. If you’re near the coast, you’ve probably seen them in your grocery store at the meat and seafood counter. If you live further inland, they might be harder to find. I live in Arizona so I knew I had to do some research. I called the meat and seafood counter at our Kroger store and they didn’t have them, but they said I could call a few days ahead and they could place a special order for me. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a few days, so I kept looking. I called a few other grocery stores with no success. Then I went to our local Asian market and found fresh clams there! It took a little longer to find them, but it was totally worth it!
Is the same bechamel sauce technique used as the base for the Boston Clam Chowder, or should the potato be used to thicken the cream instead of the flour?
You can cook the potatoes for your clam chowder until they break down and thicken the soup. It would still be abnormal. Boiling the potatoes would have caused a drastic change in the character of the soup. So much so that it wouldn’t be clam chowder anymore. It would be a cream of potatoes with clams.
When we think of bechamel, we are on the right track. You want to use a roux, a mixture of equal parts flour and shortening, to thicken your soup. You don’t want to make a bechamel and throw a bunch of clam chowder ingredients into it. Just erase those thoughts from your head because that’s not how you make soup. A good soup comes from flavor development. The thickening part happens at the very end.
So for an easy clam chowder you will need: a large onion, a good stick of celery, a few cloves of garlic, a few red or white potatoes (not Russets), a can of chopped clams, a piece of salt pork or back fat (bacon if you can’t find any others), a can of clam juice, fresh thyme, a large bay leaf, cream, salt, pepper, flour and butter.
Dice the vegetables, chop the garlic, open the cans, drain the clams and reserve the liquid, dice the pork product and strip the thyme leaves from the stem and chop.
In a pot, render the pork product and allow it to brown, then remove from the pot and set aside. Sweat the vegetables in the pork fat, season lightly with salt and pepper, until heated through and the onions are translucent. Add the cooked pork product, thyme and bay leaf to the skillet, pour in all the clam juice and add the potatoes. Simmer until the potatoes are just tender and add the cream.
While the potatoes are cooking, you will prepare the roux. In a separate saucepan, melt the butter and add the flour. Stir the roux until all the flour is absorbed. Continue to cook the roux until it takes on a light nutty aroma. Now add the roux, one third at a time, to the pan, whisking to incorporate. Once all the roux is in the soup, bring it to a boil and cook until the desired consistency is reached. Add the reserved clams, remove the bay leaf, taste the soup and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
This is a fairly classic recipe. Purists will tell you not to thicken clam chowder with a roux, or anything. That’s fine, but you asked for the redhead, so that’s what I explained. Thanks to canned soups, people expect clam chowder to be thick. Unless you live in the heart of New England, it will be difficult to convince them otherwise.
How To Make Clam Chowder With Fresh Clams Recipe:
Ingredients:
Butter – melted
Flour
Celery – finely diced
Onions – finely diced
Leeks – finely diced
Red potatoes – diced (if you like a thinner clam chowder, use less than called for)
Ground black pepper
Salt
Whole thyme
Bay leaves
Tabasco sauce
Chicken broth
Clam juice
Half and half
Clams – chopped, see post above for fresh clam instructions, you can also use canned clams
INSTRUCTIONS:
STEP – 1
Preheat the oven to 325. In a glass baking dish, whisk together flour and melted butter until combined. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden and crumbly. Set aside.
STEP -2
In a large pot, melt 1-2 tablespoons of butter and add celery, onion, and leeks. Cook on medium heat for about 3-5 minutes or until soft and slightly transparent.
STEP – 3
Add all the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the butter/flour mixture, half & half, and clams. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes or until potatoes are cooked through and fork tender.
STEP – 4
Add the butter/flour mixture into chowder and stir until thick. The mixture will be extremely thick.
STEP – 5
Remove chowder from heat and stir in half & half until blended and smooth. Heat to serving temperature (do not bring to a boil), stirring occasionally. Once the chowder has thickened slightly, stir in the clams. Serve immediately.
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