advice on thickening clam chowder..

Potato starch slurry is in a number of ways better than cornstarch, because it thickens on contact and doesn't get that weird gummy thing cornstarch often does. It's an excellent substitute for arrowroot, and a heck of a lot cheaper. But I wouldn't put a huge amount of any thickener in chowder: I like a little viscosity, rather than just the mouthfeel of milk and water, but not thick, gloppy paste. For what it's worth, Legal Seafoods, which has won various prizes for its fish and clam chowders, does make it quite thick. I wish they wouldn't, but there you go.

If you are on gluten free use instant mashed potato in a pinch it works well. As the classical way is potato thickened only. Purpose of roux in a lot of creamed soups and dishes is substitute for  reduced Heavy Cream roux simulates the same thing when mixed with milk  at a fraction of cost.

Thank you for this great idea on thicking clam chowder.  Been making it for 50 years and always have trouble getting the right thickness.

I tried your method and it was perfect, and so easy.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Emery

The mashed potato alone, which should be part of the recipe is supposed to thicken the chowdah properly.  Thickening beyond that is only conforming to those outside of Boston as to how a chowdah should be.  Unfortunately, large canning companies thickened the true consistency of chowdah to what people in Kansas to be the real deal; it is nothing but wallpaper paste with a few rubber bands.  This has altered the way people THINK chowdah should be made to be thick.  It is not however and proper cooking technique with the low heat and mashing the potato in the pot is how it really should be done.  If you dip a fork in the chowdah it should not stick like glue.

Ayep.

BDL

Some white bread or Baguette crust removed and heated in some milk or cream works well.

Remember, you paid for the ingredients so you can make it as thick or as thin as you want.

Rules are made to be broken

Dissolve  a little arrowroot in the clam juice, add slowly to the warm soup.

i would not use corn starch its for more clear thickening, and would use an uncooked flour an water mix if your looking for thickness but the potatoes should do the job

for what its worth a method for enhanced chowda thickening taught to me by an old chowder cook from maine the smooth cut edges of potato pieces retard the infusion of potato starches into the chowda when cutting the potato the knife blade should only penitrate 1/4 way though potato then by twisting the blade snap apiece of potato off larger piece leaving arough surface on potato piece this rough surface allows starch to infuse chowder much more rapidly and eliminates the need for corn starch etc. if you try this it will be readily apparent how much better this works give it a try let me know what you think----bob

I have worked in many French kitchens over the last 50 or so years ,a lot of them will not permit a box of cornstarch or a microwave oven in the kitchen.  Cornstarch only in the pastry shop was permitted.

Clam chowder is what I had decided on for dinner tonight, before reading this thread. I use my father's recipe, so there is no attempt at authenticity. It does not call for a roux, it is thickened by the potato. I have also added my own twist by adding a can of cream corn. That also adds to the thickness but it is essentially a brothy briney soup. I don't appreciate a creamy clam chowder, I add a little bit of 2% milk to mine.

If you're planning on holding the soup for any length of time, arrowroot won't hold up.  It lasts a few hours if you're lucky.  By and large arrowroot is used as a thickener when there's a lot of alcohol or acid -- i.e., when corn starch won't work well; and or when gloss and clarity are very important.  But arrowroot is very delicate.  Not only will it fail over time, but it can't take boiling.

Corn starch is used as a thickener when clarity and gloss are important and something sturdier than arrowroot is important.  Unfortunately, while corn starch will hold up better than arrowroot, it's also fairly fragile over time or high heat. 

To my mind, neither is appropriate for the Boston clam chowder we're talking about.  

Either use a blond roux, the potato trick, if your chowder is mostly cream  you can do a straight reduction.  When I make a Boston style clam chowder I start by cooking bacon lardons, setting them aside and leaving the fat in the pan.  I sweat onions and leek in the fat, then add a little flour and cook until the raw is off the flour and I have a loose blonde roux.  I mash or rice some cooked potato and add that to the roux, then add clam juice, milk and cream, season with salt and white pepper, and bring to a boil only as long as takes for the roux to thicken as much as it's going to -- about two or three minutes.  I reduce the heat to a bare simmer, add the cooked, diced potatoes, clams, the reserved bacon lardons, (sometimes some finely chopped sorrel or tarragon), and allow the flavors to marry -- about twenty minutes.   

Serve with crackers; saltines, hardtack, or oyster crackers are all good.  A good hot sauce, though surely not traditional, goes better than you might think. 

The potatoes do most of the thickening, the roux holds the potato/milk binding and keeps things smooth; so portion and proportion the thickeners appropriately.  You don't want your chowder too thick, a light nappe is right.  If you like a very thick and sturdy soup, crush some crackers and stir them in.  

BDL

Your  dad was right it should be thickened with potato.