Mar. 02, 2011 - Issue #802 : Education 2011
Provenance
The history of clam chowder
Say it with me... Chow-Dare!
Clam chowder dates back to the early settlements in America along the New England coast. It is any of several chowders containing clams and a fish broth, diced potatoes and onions—all of which are sautéed in the drippings from salt pork. Clams were the primary ingredient because of their relative ease to collect at the time.
Fish chowders were the forerunners of clam chowder. Original chowders were made out of just about everything that flew, swam or grew in the garden. When the main ingredient is fish or shellfish it is usually called chowder, although the term fish stew is also used.
The chowder originally made by the early settlers differed from other fish stews because of the salt pork, which made it distinctive.
New England clam chowder is a milk- or cream-based chowder, also made with potatoes, onion, bacon or salt pork, flour and clams. It is occasionally referred to as Boston Clam Chowder in the Midwest.
New Englanders take their clam chowder very seriously. What's fascinating is that adding tomatoes to clam chowder was shunned, to the point that a 1939 bill making tomatoes in clam chowder illegal was introduced in the Maine legislature.
The next most common clam chowder is Manhattan Clam Chowder. It has clear broth, plus tomatoes for red colour and flavour. In the 1890s, this chowder was called "New York Clam Chowder."
According to Good Eats magazine, the addition of tomatoes in place of milk was initially the work of Portuguese immigrants in Rhode Island, as tomato-based stews were already a traditional part of Portuguese cuisine. Scornful New Englanders called this modified version "Manhattan-style" clam chowder because, in their view, calling someone a New Yorker was an insult.
Modern variations of clam chowder often include celery. This is acceptable to most die-hard chowder fans, as the natural salt can replace the salt from pork. Other vegetables are uncommon, although carrot strips may be used as a garnish for colour. V vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus
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