advice on thickening clam chowder.. - Page 2

okay, just another way to skin this cat! new england clam chowder is on our menu and is a huge seller so i make big pots weekly..here's mine....cook diced peppered applewood smoked bacon and the diced onions together..when baccon is cooked but still soft and the onions are browned i add flour to make sort of a lazy man's roux right in the pan. then sherry, clam juice, potatoes(baby red skins) and cream...bring to a boil, then med  heat to cook the potatoes and reduce the cream. add more sherry, seasonings(thyme, salt,cracked black pepper), when potatoes are tender and the cream has reduced and thickened, i add the clam meat and just heat til clams are warmed through...check the seasonings...usually i add a bit more salt...we serve it with oyster crackers on top.....

joey

Hi there,

Traditionally, New England Clam chowders are made by first rendering salt pork or bacon (over medium low heat) and then sweating very small diced onions and celery in that mixture, or some other white mirepoix combo.  You may at this point add some more fat if you are going to make the roux in the Singer method, meaning as part of the overall process, like I do.  At this point add flour and stir to combine to create a blond or white roux.  It's important to have the right amount of fat in the pan in order to successfully make this type of soup.  As an aside, I think you experienced all of that foam from cooking your bacon at too high of a tempurature.  Also, it should be small dice, as the mirepoix.

Now at the same time as you are rendering and sweating all of your base ingredients, in a covered pot, steam your clams in stock or water until just opened, if doing it this way.  Otherwise, just add your fresh clams when you are ready to simmer--or canned clams when you are closer to being done.   

Now at this point, it's just a matter of fully incorporating your stock (clam stock from the steamed clams, chicken stock or fish), simmering, skimming if necessary and adding various flavoring ingredients at the proper intervals.  After the stock has been fully incporporated and no lumps are present, many add small-dice russet or baking potatoes at this point.  This also helps to thicken and give a great clam chowder texture.  Once potatoes are tender, the chowder may be finished with an amount of creams that's about 25% or so of your total stock volume.  Chowders generally require roughly an hour of simmering time in order to properly thicken and to develop the right flavors.

As an additional aside, if the chower is going to be cooled and then refrigerated immediately after preparing, it's best to finish it with cream once you reheat because of the high perishability of cream.  In a restaurant, chowders are generally finished in batches, in part because of this. 

So that's roughly it.  I hope that helps.   

Everyone has their favorite way. As log as it comes out good and customer enjoys, thats thew main thing.

no cornstarch in the kitchen?

When you work in a real upscale French kitchen most of the Ex. Chefs will not permit certain ingredients.. A slurry of flour is also not allowed. Your sauces had to be either reduced or roux or puree based, Years ago this is the way it was . Today all kinds of thickeners are used for the sake of speed and profit. Corn starch was only allowed to be used by the Pattisierre.

You should also mention that if you use stock from real clams it should be double strained thru cheesecloth so as no sand gets into final chowder., in addition clams should be scrubbed first.

 Also ask one of your Senior instructors re. use of only poatato as a thickener as years ago this is the way it was done. Also when held at to high a temp in soup bain marie the soup will break.

It took years to get all the facts of her secret recipe from my aunt on Cape Cod, MA     This is how it goes:   Make your Clam Chowder according to your own recipe.  Yes, raw potatoes will help thicken the chowder but the key is to leave the lid OFF and simmer slowly for 2 -3 hours "Don't let it boil" and stir every 20 minutes.    p.s. Light cream works better than milk and make sure you cut the potatoes big enough, they will shrink.   p.p.s  no bacon!  

ENJOY New England Clam Chowder.

True about cornstarch, only for fruit sauces or Asian sauces (teriyaki), I use a butter roux, with just a little bacon fat, adds great flavor to chowder, I make it seperate and add to boiling clam stock, cook my bacon, onions, celery seperate, strain off fat and add to chowder, also add potatoes shortly after roux and simmer for some time so the roux cooks all the way in. Reheat chowder and half and half right before service. After making thousands of gallons of chowder this is the way I get best results, any other way adds to much liquid to roux during cooking process and can affect thickening and may make the chowder break. Being from the West coast, I have met many East coasters (New England, Boston) who know all about seafood, always makes me smile.

I have seen pea soup and clam chowder with instant potato added to help thcken. One good thing is when you use this  method  the soup will not seperate in the steamtable.

Other then this tip I agree with Chef Curtis on his method. If you do not have bacon fat back will do.

Cornstarch is hash house style in my opinion.

if you would like, I have a very nice crab chowder that can easily adapt to your clam for next time, you can email me direct if you like and I will forward it to you, the one big key for you would be to cut potatoes smaller and a larger amount of them, I stay away from flurries simply because of flavor, butter roux, in my view, is much more in depth. Once the roux is made, take and ladle in the cream and thicken it that way, you can always add more roux and repeat.  Email back if you would like me to forward a very simple Chowder to you. 

Thanks for your post, would of answered sooner but we were setting up our own Kitchen. 

John R. Meyer

Thickening a chowder affects flavor. Adding starch tends to cloud the flavor of the clams. If you do it with potato, you can get shift the flavor balance even more.

Reduction is appealing, but tricky with dairy, and tends to drive off some of the clam flavor as well.

Preferences also vary regionally; there is no one true chowder.

With those things in mind, it seems to me that a recipe for chowder really has to be carefully constructed from the start with a specific end point in mind. If you didn't get there when you're done, you probably can't fix it at that point and preserve the best qualities of the chowder.

My preferences.

pervasive clam flavor

dairy richness

generous amount of clams

lighter on the vegetables

fairly dense

light salt--many chowders are overly salted--I find that lemon juice and hot sauce can bring up the flavors without the high salt.

There are some contradictory requirements. Dairy and density work against clam flavor for example.

The recipe I've been using for a dozen years or so at this point and remains my favorite works with a 51 oz can of clams. If I lived on a coast and had better access to fresh clams at reasonable prices, I'd do something different, I'm pretty sure.

The vegetables are simmered in the clam broth with a little wine, herbs and seasonings. This flavors melds the flavors well and is a quick enough cooking to preserve the character of the ingredients.

Meanwhile, I cook roux. When the vegetables are done, I mix in the roux. It becomes quite thick, like cookie dough almost. Now add the dairy-half and half is my preference to the desired thickness, Add the clams and heat until hot. No additional simmering or boiling.  Correct with lemon juice and hot sauce to taste. Worcestershire is good too, but is usually sufficient from the earlier seasonings that includes it.

no bacon or salt pork. detracts from the clams and flavor balance. Sure, i've had some good chowders with it, but I tend to prefer clam chowder without it. For a corn chowder, give me bacon. My sisters did a drive up the west coast sampling chowders all the way. When I served them mine, they ranked it in the top 3 of what they had eaten. The first question they asked was if I used bacon or salt pork so it figured heavily in what they had eaten along the way.

The comment above about simmering a clam chowder for 2 hours just scares me. Dairy nor clam liquor/juice will take that abuse and keep good flavor and texture. And please, don't have the clams or vegies in there for that time!

For any chowder I use everytime raw potatoes...you cook them and then blend inside soup...potato starch is little gluey, exact thing waht you need here...but you can use flour or make roux, as well...but everytime pour icy cold liquid (stock, water, milk..)..it prevents flour to goes lumpy.....pure corn starch or potato starch is good for fast cuisine, but do not use too much, because it absorbs flavour, what is never apropriate...

Many places used canned clams these are tough and salty. The clams should be dded last if canned are used the juice from the clams cn be used right away. If you boil the clams they get tougher.