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Regional Cuisine – New England
Clam Chowder
Sea air, crisp apples,
the brisk, spice of fallen leaves – there are few things that say autumn
in New England like the scents that seem to buffet the senses from
everywhere. Among those marvelous treats for the senses are popular dishes
from appetizer to dessert that you just won’t find – or at least won’t
find quite the same way – anywhere else in the country. If you doubt it,
there’s always an ad that was popular this past autumn – after the Red Sox
won the World Series. In it, a man was explaining, “Son, when you live in
New England there are three basic truths... clam chowder is white…”
And the other two truths don’t matter. We New Englanders take our clam
chowder seriously. Up and down the New England coast throughout the
autumn, nearly every town and township has its Chowder Festival.
Throughout the six states, restaurants cook up pots of chowder from their
best recipes and compete to be named Best Clam Chowder. The granddaddy of
all New England Chowder Festivals is held in Newport, Rhode Island, where
dozens of area restaurants compete for the title of ‘America’s Best Clam
Chowder’.
It’s a simple enough dish, but like chili in Texas and crab cakes in
Maryland, every cook has their own special twist on the recipe. There are
the basics: clams, potatoes and milk. From there, it’s every chef for
himself. Some swear that clam chowder without salt pork is just potage.
Others insist that clam chowder can’t be made without onion. Chefs nearly
come to blows over whether heavy cream should ever be used and why a
butter and flour roux is a better base than clam liquor. Secret recipes
abound – and everyone has their favorites.
My own personal favorite is the thick, creamy, eat-it-with-a-fork variety
of clam chowder served at Legal Seafood and Au Bon Pain in Boston. Rich
and laden with chunks of potato, meaty bits of clam, onions, garlic and
salt pork, it’s a meal rather than an opener for one. Served with a slab
of homemade bread slathered with butter, it’s guaranteed to raise your
cholesterol level and please your taste buds for hours.
While many chefs cry sacrilege, others believe that fresh corn adds the
perfect touch of crisp sweetness to the rich broth and pungent bits of
clam meat. Corn isn’t the only bone of contention when it comes to this
regional specialty. Purists insist that the only real ingredients in clam
chowder are clams, water, milk, onions, potatoes and butter. They argue
whether chowder should be made with mussels or littlenecks (if you’re in
Maine, it’s littlenecks – in Connecticut, mussels. Anywhere else – it
varies), whether to add the clam bellies or just the necks, even whether
clams should be steamed ‘virgin’ or with garlic, wine or beer.
Whether you like your chowder thick or thin, with or without corn,
flavored with salt pork or bacon or something else entirely, there is one
thing on which all New Englanders agree – clam chowder is white. We’re not
sure what it is that they serve in Manhattan – but it’s not clam chowder.
About the author:
This article provided courtesy of
http://www.bed-breakfast-guide.com
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