Best Seafood Chowder Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What two ingredients must be present for the soup to be called a chowder? ›

In its very basic format chowder is a soup made with a base of broth and thickened cream.

Cornstarch is a great option as it is a natural thickening agent, but you'll want to be careful about how much you use. Start with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch whisked together with cold water to create a slurry. Then, gradually add the slurry to the soup, letting it boil for one to two minutes before adding more.

What Is Clam Chowder Supposed to Taste Like? New England clam chowder is a mix of creamy soup and briny, salty, chewy clams. This is complemented with soft onions, celery, and cubed potatoes. Seasonings like pepper enhance the soup, preventing it from being bland.

Texture: The key difference between bisques and chowders is in the final texture—bisques are a smooth, silky seafood soup, while chowders are chunky and toothsome with chunks of potatoes, meat, or vegetables.

Customarily, chowder included onion, potatoes, and cream. Nowadays, not all chowders adhere to these guidelines. New England Clam Chowder is sometimes made with milk, whereas Manhattan Clam Chowder doesn't have any milk or cream but has a tomato base instead.

For clear, brothy soups, stock is your most important ingredient. If you want to make a good soup, you need to use an excellently flavored stock — otherwise, the entire pot could be tasteless.

It's important to note that cornstarch has twice the thickening power of flour. If you need to substitute cornstarch to thicken liquid in a recipe that calls for ¼ cup (four tablespoons) flour, you only need two tablespoons cornstarch.

While soups can be thin and light, a chowder is characterized by being rich and thick. Like stew, it contains large chunks of meat or seafood and vegetables, notably potatoes.

Stabilize with a Starch

Starches like flour or cornstarch help stabilize the milk emulsion. This will prevent it from separating. A common technique is to thicken your sauce or soup with roux before adding the milk. This changes the makeup of the liquid and prevents curdling.

You really only have three choices when it comes to dairy for your chowder. You can use whole milk (hom*o milk), you can use heavy cream, or you can use a combination of the two.

How do you fix bland seafood chowder? ›

So next time you're faced with bland clam chowder, rather than reaching for seasonings or herbs, try incorporating some miso paste instead. Start with a small amount if you're feeling skeptical, then slowly add more as needed.

Many regional variations exist, but the three most prevalent are New England or "white" clam chowder, which includes milk or cream, Manhattan or "red" clam chowder, which includes tomatoes, and Rhode Island or "clear" clam chowder, which omits both.

CLAM CHOWDER VERSUS LOBSTER BISQUE

You might think all clam chowders are equal, but the Manhattan version is tomato-based, whereas the New England kind is made with milk or cream, which makes it much more fattening. But when it comes to calories, lobster bisque, which is made with heavy cream, is the highest of all.

Authentic recipes ground the shells into a fine paste and use that to thicken the soup. More commonly now, bisques are thickened with rice, which can be pureed or strained out at the end of cooking.

Chowder is a thick soup prepared with milk or cream, a roux, and seafood or vegetables. Oyster crackers or saltines may accompany chowders as a side item, and cracker pieces may be dropped atop the dish.

Soups are similar to stews, and in some cases there may not be a clear distinction between the two; however, soups generally have more liquid (broth) than stews. In traditional French cuisine, soups are classified into two main groups: clear soups and thick soups.

New England clam chowder is thick, creamy, and milky-white. Manhattan clam chowder is tomatoey, brothy, and clear. Both types share a clean, briny, and slightly-sweet flavor thanks to the clams—but that's about it.