Classic Fish Chowder Recipes

CLASSIC FISH CHOWDER

Steps:

• Melt butter in a large pot over low heat. Add fatback or bacon, and cook for 3 minutes. Discard pork. Add parsley, bay leaf, potato, and fish fumet. Simmer gently until potato is tender, 6 to 8 minutes.
• Add fish, cover, and gently simmer until fish is just cooked through, about 2 minutes. Gently stir in milk and salt, and heat until warmed through, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Discard parsley and bay leaf. Serve chowder immediately with freshly ground pepper and chopped parsley on the side.

CLASSIC NEW ENGLAND FISH CHOWDER

Steps:

• Fry salt pork or bacon in a large soup kettle or Dutch oven. Remove and set aside. Add onions, potatoes and 5 cups of water to drippings. Cook until potatoes are tender. Add milk, butter, salt and pepper. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, cook fish in remaining water until tender, about 10 minutes. Add fish and 2 cups of cooking liquid to potato mixture. Heat through. Garnish with parsley and salt pork or bacon.

NEW ENGLAND FISH CHOWDER

Steps:

• Heat a 4 to 6 quart heavy pot over low heat and add the diced salt pork. Once it has rendered a few tablespoons of fat, increase the heat to medium and cook until the pork is a crisp golden brown. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cracklings to a small ovenproof dish; reserve.
• Add the butter, onions, savory or thyme, and bay leaves to the fat in the pot and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until the onions have softened but not browned, about 8 minutes.
• Add the potatoes and stock. If the stock doesn't cover the potatoes, add a little water. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and boil the potatoes vigorously until they are soft on the outside but still firm in the center, about 10 minutes. If the stock hasn't thickened slightly, smash a few of the potato slices against the side of the pot and cook for 1 to 2 minutes longer.
• Reduce the heat to low and season assertively with salt and pepper (you want to almost over season at this point in order to avoid having to stir once the fish is added). Add the fish fillets and cook over a low heat until the fish is almost done, 5 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and allow the chowder to sit for 10 minutes (the fish will finish cooking during this time).
• Gently stir in the cream and taste for salt and pepper. If you are not serving the chowder within the hour, let it cool a bit, then refrigerate (only cover the chowder after it has chilled completely). Otherwise, let it sit for up to an hour at room temperature, allowing the flavors to meld.
• When ready to serve, reheat the chowder over a low heat; don't let it boil. Warm the cracklings in a low oven (220 degrees F) for a few minutes.
• Use a slotted spoon to mound the chunks of fish, the onions, and potatoes in the center of large soup plates or shallow bowls, ladle the creamy broth around and scatter the cracklings over top. Finish each serving with a sprinkling of chopped parsley and minced chives.
• Melt the butter in a heavy 7 to 8-quart stockpot over medium heat. Add the onions, celery, carrots, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, and peppercorns and cook, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until the vegetables become very soft without browning, about 8 minutes.
• Place the fish head on the vegetables and stack the fish frames evenly on top. Pour in the wine, cover the pot tightly and let the bones sweat until they have turned completely white, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Add enough very hot or boiling water (approximately 2 quarts) to just barely cover the bones. Give the mixture a gentle stir and allow the brew to come to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes, uncovered, carefully skimming off any white foam that comes to the surface (try to leave the herbs, spices and vegetables in the pot).
• Remove the pot from the stove, stir the stock again and allow it to steep undisturbed for 10 minutes. Ladle through a fine-mesh strainer and season lightly with salt. If you are not going to be using the stock within the hour, chill it as quickly as possible.
• Cover the stock after it is thoroughly chilled (it will have a light jellied consistency) and keep refrigerated for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 2 months.

SEAFOOD CHOWDER

Steps:

• Cut the shrimp, scallops, and monkfish into bite-sized pieces and place them in a bowl with the crabmeat.
• In a heavy-bottomed pot, melt the butter; add the carrots, onions, celery, potatoes, and corn and saute over medium-low heat for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are barely cooked, stirring occasionally. Add the flour; reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes. Add the Seafood Stock and bring to a boil. Add the seafood; reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 7 to 10 minutes, until the fish is just cooked. Add the heavy cream, if desired, and the parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste, and serve.
• Warm the oil in a stockpot over medium heat. Add the shrimp shells, onions, carrots, and celery and saute for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook 2 more minutes. Add 1 1/2 quarts of water, the white wine, tomato paste, salt, pepper, and thyme. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour. Strain through a sieve, pressing the solids. You should have approximately 1 quart of stock. You can make up the difference with water or wine if you need to.

FISH CHOWDER

Steps:

• In a large stockpot, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Saute onions, mushrooms and celery in butter until tender.
• Add chicken stock and potatoes; simmer for 10 minutes.
• Add fish, and simmer another 10 minutes.
• Mix together clam juice and flour until smooth; stir into soup and simmer for 1 minute more. Season to taste with Old Bay seasoning, salt, and pepper. Remove from heat, and stir in evaporated milk. Top each bowl with crumbled bacon, if desired.

OLD-FASHIONED NEW ENGLAND FISH CHOWDER

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, saute onions in 2 tablespoons butter. Add the water, potatoes, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 25 minutes or until potatoes are tender. , Combine the flour and milk until smooth. Stir into potato mixture along with evaporated milk. Add fish and the remaining butter; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cook 5-10 minutes longer or until fish is opaque.

NOVA SCOTIA FISH CHOWDER

Steps:

• In a large pot, melt butter. Add onion and sauté until soft.
• Add next 5 ingredients; cover. Cook until potatoes are tender-crisp. Do not overcook. Remove bay leaf.
• Add fish; cook for about 5 minutes until fish flakes when tested with a fork.
• Stir in cream; heat slowly, stirring often, until steaming hot.

FISH CHOWDER

Steps:

• Rinse the fish and place in a kettle with the bay leaves and peppercorns. Add water to cover, at least two and one-half cups, and bring to a simmer over gentle heat. Cover the kettle and let simmer, 10 to 15 minutes, until the fish is cooked through but still firm-textured. (If necessary, you may cut the fish in half in order to fit the kettle.) Remove the fish from the broth. Skin and bone the cooked fish, break the flesh into chunks and set aside. Return the skin and bones, as well as head and tail pieces, to the broth and continue to simmer, covered, for 30 minutes to give a well-flavored broth for the chowder.
• Melt the butter in another soup kettle and gently saute the diced salt pork until the scraps have rendered their fat and turned crisp and brown. Remove the pork, drain on absorbent paper and set aside.
• In the hot fat, saute the onion slices gently until they begin to brown. Then add the potato cubes and turn in hot fat to coat them well. When the potatoes begin to sizzle, add at least two cups of fish broth, strained of the bay leaves and peppercorns. The potatoes should be floating, but not drowning, in the liquid. Simmer gently, covered, until the potatoes are tender enough to pierce with a fork.
• Add the fish pieces and continue simmering another five minutes.
• Heat the whole milk to just below boiling. Add it, a quarter of a cup at a time, to the chowder. Heat the evaporated milk and add it in a similar fashion. From the moment the milk is added, the chowder must not boil. This is very important. If it boils, it may curdle.
• Taste for seasoning and add salt, pepper and the dry mustard powder. Mix well. Then put the chowder ''to set,'' as they say in Maine, for at least two hours. Ideally, it should be placed on the least warm area of the woodstove top where it will stay just below the simmering point. A very low gas flame, as long as the chowder doesn't boil, will do as well. If you can't keep it at a temperature just below boiling, it is better to refrigerate the chowder for a day, rather than leaving it at room temperature.
• When ready to serve, reheat the chowder, without bringing to the boil. Put a pat of butter in each chowder bowl before filling it, and sprinkle bits of browned pork scraps over the top. Pass the crackers to add to the soup.

EVENTIDE FISH CHOWDER

Steps:

• In a small pan over low heat, toast the peppercorns until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Coarsely grind and set aside.
• Trim cod of any pin bones or bits of skin and cut into 1-inch cubes. Lightly salt the cubes all over and set aside on paper towels to drain. Rinse scallops very lightly under cold water. Cut into half-moons and set aside on paper towels to drain. Keep seafood refrigerated until ready to use.
• In a large pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. When the butter is just sizzling, add onion and potatoes and cook, stirring, until the onions start to melt and the potatoes are gold at the edges, about 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, if using bacon, cook the strips in a hot skillet over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until nicely browned, about 5 minutes. Set aside on paper towels to drain.
• Add stock, thyme and toasted peppercorns to pot and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes. The potatoes should not be cooked through.
• Stir in cream and heat through over low heat. Taste and adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper.
• Just before serving, with the chowder simmering over low heat, stir in seafood and simmer until potatoes are soft and seafood is just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Stir in the bacon.
• Ladle the chowder into bowls. You want each serving to be around 2 parts broth to 1 part chunky goodness. Use your fingers to crush the nori into powdery bits, if using, and sprinkle over the top of each serving. Place about 1 teaspoon chives in the center of each bowl and serve immediately.