Authentic New England Clam Chowder...

I get tonnes when I google it - is there such a thing as an authentic receipe?

& whilst at it, same q for - Linguini al vongole...

What makes you think the recipes you get aren't authentic? It should be diced fat salt pork, onions (cooked in the pork fat till translucent but not browned), clam broth, potatoes (diced and simmered in the broth until done. big clams/quahogs (steamed open and chopped), and cream.

In the US there is spaghetti with white clam sauce and spaghetti with red clam sauce. Red clam sauce is a tomato sauce with clams and clam liquid. White clam sauce is oil, garlic, parsley, clams (steamed open and chopped) and the broth. Lots of garlic. Lots of bread on the side to mop up.

In both cases, after adding the clams just heat enough to warm them through or they'l be tough.

Asking for "Authentic New England Clam Chowder" is somewhat akin to asking for "Authentic Southern Fried Chicken." Everyone's grandmother knows the one, true authentic recipe and all others are bogus.

Vinny gave a rough outline, but there are recognized styles of the stuff. Ochef says, in answer to a similar question <blockquote>Quote
<hr>Among thousands of clam chowders, no more than three or four broad categories have taken on names that chefs or food snobs would agree on. There are two recognized types of New England clam chowder (the assertive chowder made with quahogs and seasoned with herbs and often garlic, and the sweeter, more subtle steamer, or soft-shell, clam chowder, which is less heavily seasoned). According to Jasper White, both include a creamy broth with clams, potatoes, onions, celery, and salt pork or bacon, but neither of these two varieties has an official name other than New England Clam Chowder.

Yes, there is Manhattan Clam Chowder, which some have characterized as vegetable soup with clams. It, too, has many, many varieties. In between — geographically and culinarily — there is is Rhode Island Clam Chowder, which has neither tomatoes nor milk, but a clear broth (although pitchers of hot milk are often served alongside for those who realize that Rhode Island is actually a part of New England).

In your zeal to understand chowder, you have fallen into the trap of believing that — like most things in our commercial society — everything in the food world is branded. There is no official Boston Clam Chowder, nor can we find any agreement about what particular variation of New England Clam Chowder it would refer to. That doesn’t mean, of course, that dishes by that name don’t appear on hundreds of restaurant menus inside and outside of Boston. Authentic Clam Chowder is either an oxymoron or it applies equally to any and all clam chowders ever made.<hr></blockquote>

Garlic in New England clam chowder just sounds like a category error to me. Celery is fine. I was going to mention bacon as a possible substitute for salt pork but I thought that might start a fight.

Herbs and black pepper are important. And little oyster crackers.

Um Vinny, you mentioned garlic yourself! There are lots of Italians and Portuguese in New England. Why wouldn't they put garlic in clam chowder?

I had Boston Clam Chowder when I was in Boston. I like mine better.

Are you sure you didn't have New England clam chowder?

Where did you have it? We can't comment any further until that's been revealed.

I always liked what you get at Legal Seafoods until I discovered a place on Cape Cod that wins a lot of the titles at the various chowder festivals. Their version is the food of the goods. The problem is that chowder is ruined for me now and I'll never enjoy it again unless it is that good. Even in Boston and other places on the Cape it's not as good as that.

What's your recipe? Maybe if I try at home I'll be able to replicate it.

I went to Boston last May and had clam chowder at:

Union Oyster House
Jake's in Nantasket
Legal Seafood
Bell In Hand Tavern
Stromberg's in Salem
No Name Seafood
Doyle's Café

They were all different, all good, I liked Jake's and Doyle's best.

At the No Name the specialty is the fish chowder--I don't even think they had clam on the menu when I was there in July. I love Legal and their test kitchen too. We have a Legal around here but no test kitchen, wish they'd open more.

I also had Boston baked beans at the fake Cheers near Boston Common. I wouldn't do that again.

Never had them in my live and never will. And I'm from Boston!

There is a type of penny candy by the same name, they are fun once every 15 years or so.

Do they have "cockles" in New England?

it was at Legal Seafood. I had a lobster roll there that was amazing though.

Here is my mom's clam chowder recipe:

4 potatoes peeled and diced
1/2 lb bacon
1 large diced onion
2-3 cans baby clams
2 can clam nectar
2 cans evaporated milk
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
flour & water for thickening
seasoned salt & pepper

Chop bacon and add onions in pan. Fry until bacon is done. Drain. Add clam nectar, potatoes, celery, carrots and cook (covered) until potatoes are tender. Add milk, clams and spices. If you like it a bit thicker, mix 1/4 cup cold water and 2 TBSP flour untl well mixed. Add to soup mixture (stirring well) until desired thickness.

I also had the most AMAZING fried clams in Boston.

Thanks for the recipe!

Would you guess that clam nectar is the same as clam juice or broth?

Fried clams are the best. I miss them so. Just got my trip to the Cape confirmed for next summer, though.

around here in new england one does not use celery or carrots in clam chowder. bacon is prefered over salt pork and one can get shot if served manhatten style chowder. the fried clams are better in a small town 25 mi north a place called essex

Woodman's! I just recommend them on another branch the other day.

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Would you guess that clam nectar is the same as clam juice or broth?<hr></blockquote>
Yes it is.

dianne woodmans tends to be greasy and is known better for their boiled lloobster the better place for clams is farnhams just outside of the town of essex on the gloucester side. their fried food is always non greaasey adn very well done if you eat that sort of stuff. i grew up eating alll that and now prefer steamers, shrimp and scallops cooked any other way but fried- really all you taste is the batter and very little of the food inside

#18 clam nectar is another name for clam broth essential for making clam chowder

Interesting, thanks for the tip. We always went to Woodman's when I was growing up. I agree that steamers are delicious, but I can't help myself around fried clams. I think it's a matter of nostalgia as much as anything.

And thanks both of you re: nectar. I never heard that one before.

"Clam nectar" is new to me too.

#5 -- I mentioned garlic in the spaghetti alle vongole, not in the clam chowder. Despite nutrax's advice about claims of authenticity, which I think are well-taken up to a point, I think garlic in something called New England Clam Chowder is akin to tomatoes in "New England Clam Chowder". I agree with nutrax that it's crazy to think that there is one authentic recipe, and people who insist on that kind of thing (with chowder, chili, barbecue, crabcakes, dry martinis, etc.) are as boring as people who describe their dreams. But still, words have meanings. You've got a right to expect that something called "New England Clam Chowder" will not have tomatoes in it, and I don't think it should have garlic either. Garlic just isn't a traditional (i.e. pre 1890 or so) New England ingredient. For example, I'm looking at a 1934 Boston Cooking School Cook Book (Fannie Farmer) and she gives three sauces to serve with Boiled Spaghetti, one called Italian Sauce (pork chops, onion, tomatoes, salt, paprika), one called Napoli Sauce (bacon, onion, tomatoes, tomato paste (Query: she says "1/2 box" -- how could it have been in a box?) salt, pepper, allspice, mace, cayenne, bay leaf); and Tomato sauce (Tomatoes or tomato paste, onion, butter, flour, salt, pepper). So there's no garlic even in spaghetti sauce, which makes me suspect that there isn't a clove of garlic to be found in the whole book.

For what it's worth, and with no particular claim of authenticity, here is her Clam Chowder:

1 quart clams (meaning one quart shucked, in their liquor)
4 cups potatoes, cut in 3/4 inch cubes
1 sliced onion
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
4 tbs butter
4 cups scalded milk
8 common crackers (these are bigger than Diana's little oyster crackers -- about the size of a quahog actually, and capable of being split, but the same kind of thing)

Clean and pick over clams; drain; reserve liquor. Chop finely the hard part of the clams. Cut pork small and try out (cook the fat out of it); add onion, fry 5 minutes, and strain (!) into a stewpot. Parboil potatoes 5 minutes in boiling water to cover. Drain and put a layer in bottom of stewpan; add chopped clams, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and dredge generously with flour (which she forgot to mention in the list of ingredients); add remaining potatoes, agian sprinkle with salt and pepper, drege with flour, and add 2 1/2 cups boiling water. cook 10 minutes, add milk, soft part of clams, and butter, boil 3 minutes and add crackers split and soaked in enough cold milk to moisten Heat clam liquor to boiling point, train, thicken with one tbs butter and flour cooked together. Add to chowder just before serving. The clam water has a tendency to cause the milk to separate, hence is added last.

She has Rhode Island Clam Chowder and Manhattan Clam Chowder also, but the one above is "Clam Chowder".

Do what real New Englanders do.....buy Snow's and doctor it up. Just dice some onions and saute in a ton of buttah, add some extra chopped clams (real ones) and you're good to go. You can add other stuff too, like more cream, paprika to spice it up, fresh ground peppah.....and ya hafta have Crown Pilot crackahs to top it off.