Clam chowder
New England’s creamy clam soup, with potato, bacon and cream. In Boston it’s served in a hollowed-out round loaf or with oyster crackers.
Ingredients
- 1 kg clams (or 300 g clam meat)
- 100 g diced streaky bacon
- 1 onion and 2 celery sticks
- 3 potatoes
- 2 tablespoons of flour
- 500 ml milk and 200 ml cream
- Thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper
How to make it at home
- Steam the clams open with a glass of water, take out the meat and strain the liquid.
- Brown the bacon and soften the chopped onion and celery in its fat.
- Add the flour, stir and pour in the clam liquid. Add the diced potatoes, thyme and bay leaf and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Add the milk and cream and cook over a low heat for 5 more minutes, without letting it boil.
- Stir in the clams at the end, season and serve.
The trick: Add the clams at the very last moment: if they boil, they go tough.