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Cooking

  • May. 21st, 2012 at 4:32 PM

eglantine_br
Today it is chilly and rainy here in New York. Several of us have the crud-- coughing and feeling miserable. 

So I am making clam chowder. Very simple, it is one of the first thing I ever learned to cook. Butter, milk, onions, potatoes, clams. Today I had some shallots lying around. I used them up, and I had some fish in the freezer, I skinned it, and cut it up,that went in too.

I know there are a lot of ways to make it-- some people in NYC even put tomatoes in. (horrifying to a New England girl.) 

So I wondered, do you guys make it? Is there a tradition of it wherever you are? What do you put in?

Comments

( 7 comments — Leave a comment )
anteros_lmc
May. 21st, 2012 09:58 pm (UTC)
Nope, no tradition of anything at all like this where I come from! Which is odd in a way because all those ingredients are readily available in the Hebrides and always have been. As far as I know they've never been traditionally cooked like this though. I'm not sure if this sort of thing is more common in other parts of the UK though. Sounds like the perfect thing to make on a cold rainy day! We've actually had sun here for once, it was even warm enough to sit out in the garden after daughter had her tea!
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eglantine_br
May. 21st, 2012 10:09 pm (UTC)
It i childhood comfort food for me really. It is usually served with oyster crackers. Do you guys have those? You buy them in little packets, and float them in your soup.

You know I think it might be French sailor food. I think the word 'chowder' is a French borrow.
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anteros_lmc
May. 21st, 2012 10:18 pm (UTC)
It is usually served with oyster crackers. Do you guys have those?
Only in Chinese restaurants! Daughter adores them :)

You know I think it might be French sailor food.
Certainly sounds plausible as sailor food. And much tastier than weevly biscuits!
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vespican
May. 21st, 2012 10:31 pm (UTC)
I think clam chowder is mentioned in the POB Aubrey/Maturin books. It's also addressed in the "cookbook" written regarding all the food mentioned in those stories. If I remember right it mentions that back then, it was a much thinner watery affair than it is now.
Dave
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eglantine_br
May. 21st, 2012 10:48 pm (UTC)
I bet it would be more watery if you were trying to feed a lot of people with it.

I am sure that biscuits could have been used as a thickener, (either at the table, or by the cook.)
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donnaimmaculata
May. 22nd, 2012 08:00 am (UTC)
This sounds both delicious and easy to make, I shall try it on a rainy day. We don't have it here, but I thought I'd had clam chowder when I was in Scotland; however, Google informs me that it's an American dish, so it was probably something else that I had (it was fishy and creamy, though).
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eglantine_br
May. 22nd, 2012 07:18 pm (UTC)
I think it may have been one of those things they just never bothered to write down long ago. It is obviously not upscale food. It is not flashy. In my life i associate it with the cold ferry ride to my childhood home.
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( 7 comments — Leave a comment )