Best Wilmas Clam Chowder Recipes

IVAR'S CLAM CHOWDER

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, drain the juice from the clams; set the clams aside.
• Combine clam juice with the onions, celery and potatoes.
• Add enough water to barely cover and simmer, covered, over medium heat until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.
• In a large saucepan, melt the butter.
• Add flour and stir in to the butter.
• Slowly whisk in the warm half-and-half.
• Cook and whisk until smooth and thick, about 5 minutes.
• If you want a thinner chowder, add 1/2 to 3/4 cup water or clam broth.
• Add the vegetables with their cooking liquid, clams, salt, pepper and sugar to the pan.
• Stir well and adjust the seasonings if necessary.

MY BEST CLAM CHOWDER

Steps:

• Drain juice from clams into a large skillet over the onions, celery, potatoes and carrots. Add water to cover, and cook over medium heat until tender.
• Meanwhile, in a large, heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smooth. Whisk in cream and stir constantly until thick and smooth. Stir in vegetables and clam juice. Heat through, but do not boil.
• Stir in clams just before serving. If they cook too much they get tough. When clams are heated through, stir in vinegar, and season with salt and pepper.

NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER I

Steps:

• Place diced bacon in large stock pot over medium-high heat. Cook until almost crisp; add onions, and cook 5 minutes. Stir in water and potatoes, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, and cook uncovered for 15 minutes, or until potatoes are fork tender.
• Pour in half-and-half, and add butter. Drain clams, reserving clam liquid; stir clams and 1/2 of the clam liquid into the soup. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until heated through. Do not allow to boil.

NEWPORT CLAM CHOWDER

Steps:

• Melt butter in a large kettle or stock pot over medium heat. Add onions and saute until clear. Stir in flour and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, for 2 to 4 minutes. Set aside to cool.
• In a separate pot, bring clams and clam juice to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
• In a small saucepan, cover peeled potatoes with water. Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.
• Slowly pour hot clam stock into butter/flour mixture while stirring constantly. Continue stirring and slowly bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add cooked potatoes. Mix in half and half, salt and pepper and chopped dill. Heat through but do not boil.

BARBRA BUSH'S ALL AMERICAN CLAM CHOWDER

Steps:

• Cook bacon until crisp.
• Drain on paper towel.
• Saute onion in same skillet as bacon until soft.
• Add clam juice& potatoes.
• Cover& cook over low heat until potatoes are tender, 15 min.
• Melt butter in sauce pan.
• Add flour& mix together.
• Add milk& blend until smooth.
• Add clam juice& potatoes; cook& stir until thickened.
• Add soup, bacon, clams,& pepper; cook over low heat until heated through, Serve with oyster crackers, if desired.

THE BEST CLAM CHOWDER

Steps:

• Put the clams in a large, heavy Dutch oven, add about 4 cups water, then set over medium-high heat. Cover, and cook until clams have opened, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. (Clams that fail to open after 15 to 20 minutes should be discarded.) Strain clam broth through a sieve lined with cheesecloth or doubled-up paper towels, and set aside. Remove clams from shells, and set aside as well.
• Rinse out the pot, and return it to the stove. Add butter, and turn heat to medium-low. Add bacon or salt pork, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the fat has rendered and the pork has started to brown, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove pork from fat, and set aside.
• Add the leeks to the fat, and cook, stirring frequently, until they are soft but not brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in potatoes and wine, and continue cooking until wine has evaporated and the potatoes have just started to soften, approximately 5 minutes. Add enough clam broth to just cover the potatoes, approximately 3 cups, reserving the rest for another use. Add the thyme and the bay leaf.
• Partly cover the pot, and simmer gently until potatoes are tender, approximately 10 to 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, chop the clams into bits about the size of the bacon dice.
• When potatoes are tender, add cream and stir in chopped clams and reserved bacon. Add black pepper to taste. Let come to a simmer, and remove from heat. (Do not let chowder come to a full boil.) Fish out the thyme and the bay leaf, and discard.
• The chowder should be allowed to sit for a while to cure. Reheat it to a bare simmer before serving, then garnish with chopped parsley. Serve with oyster crackers.

CONTEST-WINNING NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove to paper towels to drain; set aside. Saute celery and onion in the drippings until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the potatoes, water, clam juice, bouillon, pepper and thyme. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, until potatoes are tender, 15-20 minutes., In a small bowl, combine flour and 1 cup half-and-half until smooth. Gradually stir into soup. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened, 1-2 minutes., Stir in clams and remaining half-and-half; heat through (do not boil). Crumble the cooked bacon; sprinkle over each serving.

GRANDMA'S CLAM CHOWDER

Steps:

• Lay out bacon in the bottom of a large stock pot over low heat. Render bacon slowly until nearly crisp but while grease is still very liquid (about 10 minutes).
• Add onions, carrots and celery and cook until nearly soft. Turn up heat slightly if necessary (about 10 minutes).
• Add potatoes to vegetables and mix well.
• Sift in flour slowly, stirring constantly, until flour and bacon grease make a roux.
• Add salt, pepper and hot sauce.
• Add stock to cover vegetables (no more than 1" over).
• Stir, add bay leaves and bring to a boil.
• When just at boiling, reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are cooked through but not mushy (20-25 min.).
• Add clams and increase heat until just boiling then remove from heat.
• Stir in cream.
• Ladle to bowls and garnish with parsley.

HATTERAS STYLE CLAM CHOWDER

Steps:

• In a large pot over medium heat, cook onion, celery and carrots in oil until they begin to soften. Stir in potatoes, clams, clam juice, thyme, pepper and bacon. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

CHEF JOHN'S MANHATTAN CLAM CHOWDER

Steps:

• Drain baby and chopped clams. Reserve liquid in the refrigerator until needed and set clams aside.
• Place bacon in a soup pot over medium-high heat; cook and stir until well-browned and almost crispy, 7 to 10 minutes. Add onion, garlic, and a pinch of salt; cook and stir until onions start to soften and turn translucent, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Add tomato paste; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Don't worry if some of the tomato paste sticks to the bottom of the pot; we want that to happen. Sprinkle in flour; cook and stir for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Dump in reserved clam juice plus bottled clam juice and chicken broth. Stir with a spatula, scraping the bottom of the pot to deglaze any caramelization.
• Add carrots, celery, clams, diced tomatoes, pepper, and cayenne; stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, skimming off some bacon fat if desired.
• Add diced potatoes and cook until tender but not falling apart, about 20 minutes. Taste and adjust for salt, if needed. Stir in fresh tarragon and parsley just before serving.

NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER WITH SHRIMP

Steps:

• Rinse and drain canned clams, reserve liquid and set aside.
• In a large stockpot, cook bacon until crisp, do not drain.
• Add diced onion and celery, saute until soft, stirring frequently.
• Once onion/celery are soft, add pepper, marjoram and thyme.
• Add bottles clam juice and clam juice reserved from canned clams.
• Add diced red potatoes and simmer 10-15 min until potatoes are soft.
• While potatoes are simmering --
• In a small saucepan, make a light roux with butter and flour.
• Once potatoes are soft, add roux to chowder and stir until thickened.
• Add cooked shrimp and drained clams and stir to mix.
• At this point, the chowder base may be refrigerated for 3 days or frozen for later use.
• To serve: add 1 qt light cream and up to 1 qt whole milk to desired consistency, while heating be careful not to boil.
• Right before serving, stir in sherry and fresh chopped parsley.
• Serve topped with paprika and oyster/soup crackers.

JIM'S NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER

Steps:

• Dice the salt pork into small cubes.
• I usually slice it into a grid while it is still attached to the skin, then slice across the skin where it attaches to the fat and the cubes pop off easily.
• Sauté the salt pork in a large 5 quart non stick sauce pan.
• When the cubes are golden brown strain them from the rendered fat onto a paper bag to drain.
• Save 4 tablespoons of the liquid fat from the salt pork,then wipe out the sauce pan with a paper towel.
• Put the fat back in the sauce pan.
• Dice the large onion into small pieces.
• Slice the 3 ribs of celery lengthwise then dice it into small pieces.
• Place the diced onion and celery into the heated pork fat and sauté until the onions are opaque and the celery is a bit soft.
• Pour the entire can of clams (broth and all) into the onion/celery mixture and bring to a simmer.
• Place the rosemary into the clam broth mixture.
• Peel the Maine potatoes OR scrub the red bliss potatoes.
• Then cut them into 3/4-inch cubes--I like them a bit chunky--and soak them in cold water for about five minutes.
• Take the stick of butter and melt it in a small sauce pan.
• Add the 3 tablespoons of flour to the melted butter and stir until well blended.
• Drain the potatoes and place them into the clam mixture, simmer until al dente.
• Next, pour the 2 cups of milk into the simmering clam broth mixture and bring back to a simmer.
• Lastly, swirl the butter/flour roux into the chowder and simmer for about 10 more minutes until the chowder thickens.
• Remove the rosemary and serve this chowder in big bowls with oyster crackers and the pieces of golden brown pork fat, salt and pepper to taste.
• NOTE: I don't like my chowder too thick so you may have to adjust the butter/flour mixture.
• You may skip the butter and use a low-fat margarine.
• You may also substitute skim milk too (or skip the milk altogether, this is called Point Judith/Rhode Island style!).
• You may even skip the whole pork fat thing for a healthier recipe.
• This chowder is so hearty that it stands up well to "healthier alternative" substitutions.