Soup · New England, United States
New England clam chowder
Clams, potatoes and onion in a creamy broth, the white chowder of the New England coast.
About the dish
New England clam chowder is the white chowder of the Northeastern American coast. Fish and clam chowders thickened with crumbled ship’s biscuit were eaten in New England by the 1700s, and over the next century potatoes and milk or cream became the standard. Hard-shell clams, usually quahogs, are steamed open and chopped, and their briny juice, called clam liquor, goes into the pot as part of the broth.
The flavor is a balance of brine and cream. Salt and savory depth come from the clams and from salt pork or bacon rendered at the start with onion. Cream or milk rounds off the brine and adds richness, and the potatoes give body and a little starch that thickens the broth. Thyme and bay leaf are common, and oyster crackers go on top.
Two things spoil it: boiling after the dairy goes in, which can curdle it, and cooking the clams too long, which makes them rubbery. Many cooks add the chopped clams in the last few minutes. Its rivals are Manhattan chowder, with a tomato broth, and Rhode Island chowder, with a clear one.
Written from general cooking knowledge, as background on a dish from the game’s recipe book. It is not a tested recipe.
The flavors it leans on
New England clam chowder in Night Kitchen
In the game, New England clam chowder is a soup in the recipe book. A plate is named New England clam chowder when it holds these cards and is cooked with exactly this technique, with at most one extra ingredient.
Ingredients
- Clams
- Potatoes
- Heavy cream
Technique
- Simmer
How those cards taste
Cooked from just these cards for an average ticket, before tonight’s mood and quirks, it would please Gus (2 stars), Odile (2 stars) and Mr. Vane (2 stars) most.
“Clams, potatoes and cream, simmered slow. That is a proper chowder, and do not let anybody near it with a tomato.”
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