3Fish Chowder

[Dale]

Here's my own recipe for a Wisely Christmas family tradition: 3Fish Chowder. When I published this two years ago, several people wrote in to say that had made it and really enjoyed it, prompting someone to write: "Hmmm. Anything with that much butter and cream is pretty much destined to be good." It's a holiday treat. Like most, I don't recommend it for daily consumption!

3Fish Chowder recipe courtesy of Dale Wisely

2 pounds potatoes, peeled and diced. (Have someone you’re mad at handle this part.)

3-4 lbs of cooked seafood (I use equal parts shrimp and clams)

3 small cans crab meat, minced, shredded, or chopped. (The crab meat, not the can)

¼ lb of salt pork (Salt pork, of course, combines two of life’s great pleasures, salt and pork. You can substitute bacon if you’re in a pinch. If you avoid pork, you can substitute a product called "Liquid Smoke" with pretty good results.)

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped. (This part always chokes me up and I get teary-eyed doing it.)

1 cup butter (It yields 15-20 servings. Relax.)

1 cup flour

10 cups chicken broth (some prefer clam juice. I don’t. Use good quality chicken broth.)

1 pint of half-and-half (Look, it yields 15-20 servings. Seriously--relax.)

salt & pepper

dash hot pepper sauce

dash Worcestershire sauce (I’m not sure that’s spelled right. I can’t say it either.)

You’ll have one thing going on in a stock pot and something else going on in a sauté pan.

In the stock pot, bring the broth and the potatoes to a boil. Cook until the potatoes are tender, usually about 20 or 25 minutes.

In the sauté pan, cook the salt pork until well rendered. The pork should be crispy. Remove the pork from the fat. Add the diced-small onions and cook until transparent and very tender. (I check the transparency of onions by trying to read the newspaper through them.) Add the butter (2 sticks) and allow it to melt. Add the flour and cook over medium heat until somewhat colored and thick. Add a little flour if the mixture is too thin.

Slowly stir in the cooked roux from the sauté pan into the broth & potatoes. Bring (or continue) a rolling boil to thicken the chowder. Stir continuously, making sure not to scorch the bottom. Once thickened, beat half of the pint of half-and-half (I know that’s confusing, what with all the “half”s and all) and add it. After tasting, if you wish, you can add more half-and-half. And, of course, you will. And should. Reduce heat to low, add the seafood and allow enough time to heat the seafood through. Adjust the seasoning by adding salt & pepper and a dash of hot pepper sauce and a dash of Worcestershire sauce. One can serve immediately, although if you let it simmer for a few hours it’s even better. When served in bowls (the recommended method) garnish with a little chopped parsley or dried green onion.

Yields 15-20 servings and about 15% of the weight you gain during the holidays.

[chrisoff]

I have some questions on translating this from american ingredients:

What's half and half? Is it semi-skimmed milk?

What's salt pork? What kind of cut is it?

When you say chicken broth, do you mean chicken stock? Or do you really mean like a chicken soup with vegetables etc like a scotch broth?

Aside from that, 15-20 servings! Yikes. No chance that could fit into any of my tiny pots.

You spelt Worcester right, and for reference it's pronounced wooster

[Dale]

I have some questions on translating this from american ingredients:

What's half and half? Is it semi-skimmed milk?

What's salt pork? What kind of cut is it?

When you say chicken broth, do you mean chicken stock? Or do you really mean like a chicken soup with vegetables etc like a scotch broth?

Aside from that, 15-20 servings! Yikes. No chance that could fit into any of my tiny pots.

You spelt Worcester right, and for reference it's pronounced wooster

Half and half. On the contrary, it is half whole milk and half cream. I think.

I'm not sure from which part of the pig salt pork comes. But it's mostly fat. It's a hunk of heart attack, basically.

Chicken stock is really what I mean. Just liquid, not solids in it. But, I buy it in containers that are labelled chicken broth.

[Bloomfield]

salt pork
So named because it is salt-cured, this is a layer of fat (usually with some streaks of lean) that is cut from the pig's belly and sides. Salt pork is often confused with fatback, which is unsalted. It varies in degree of saltiness and often must be blanched to extract excess salt before being used. It's similar to bacon but much fattier and unsmoked. Salt pork can be refrigerated tightly wrapped for up to a month. It's used primarily as a flavoring and is an important ingredient in many dishes throughout New England and the South.

[chrisoff]

Half and half. On the contrary, it is half whole milk and half cream. I think.

Woah. I did wonder why people would worry about having too much semi-skimmed, that makes much more sense.

Salt Pork looks like belly pork to me. Wikipedia seems to agree.

[Innocent Bystander]

Not to steal your thunder, Dale, but why not more recipes?

These ones involve a Mandolin(e)!

Here are two recipes from "The Gourmet Vegetarian" by Colin Spencer. This book is worth getting. Mr Spencer has (I think) popped his clogs by now. We haven't tried the first recipe, but the second depends on it for explanation. The second is very rich and easy to do. It's an excellent dish for entertaining.

Gratin Dauphinois - Colin Spencer

“No garlic, no cheese, no milk, no eggs. This is simple, classical and one of the best dishes in the world.”

2 lb (1 kg) potatoes
1 oz (25 g) butter
1 ½ pints (900 ml) single cream
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Salt & pepper

Peel the potatoes and slice them on a mandoline so they are almost transparent. If you have no mandoline use a sharp knife. It takes longer but works just as well.
Soak the potatoes in cold water for fifteen minutes so they lose some of their starch. Drain them and pat them dry.
Grease a shallow fireproof dish with the butter (an ordinary soufflé dish is too thick for this recipe).
Place a layer of potatoes in the dish, season it with salt pepper and a little nutmeg, and then add more layers, seasoning as you go. Four or five layers should be enough. Pour the cream into the dish and allow it to settle through the potato layers.
Place the dish in a preheated oven at 300 F/ 150 C/ Regulo 2 and let them cook slowly for two and a half hours. Note that a hotter oven can curdle the cream.


Gratin Jurassien

2 lb (1 kg) potatoes
½ lib (225g) Gruyere Cheese
2 oz (50 g) butter
1 pint (600 ml) single cream
Salt & pepper

Prepare the potatoes as for Gratin Dauphinois. Use the butter to grease a fireproof dish, place a layer of potatoes, dot with butter and sprinkle some grated Gruyere cheese over them. Continue the layers, and when finished, pour the cream over the top and allow to settle. Cook in a slow oven for two hours. No other cheese will do. Gruyere has a sharpness which complements the potatoes.

[Wanderer]

I've made this recipe four or five times since Dale first posted it..my family always loves it. I've made it with shrimp & clams, lobster chunks, and the inexpensive "seafood trio" (mussels, squid and octopus) my local grocer carries.

I substitute heavy cream for half and half.
Instead of salt pork, you can substitute any fatty bacon, but salt pork really is the way to go here. Anyone else notice that the price of salt pork has gone through the roof since the Food Network has gained in popularity? Bah. I used to get a half-pound of it for a quarter..now it's like $4.00 a pound at my local grocer.

[Bloomfield]

Anyone else notice that the price of salt pork has gone through the roof since the Food Network has gained in popularity? Bah. I used to get a half-pound of it for a quarter..now it's like $4.00 a pound at my local grocer.

I've been investing in pork belly futures for years. Keep on cooking, baby.

[bradhurley]

dash Worcestershire sauce (I’m not sure that’s spelled right. I can’t say it either.)

Just call it "What's-that-there sauce," that's the traditional American pronunciation.

In Massachusetts, however, it's "Woostahshuh."

[dfernandez77]

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped. (This part always chokes me up and I get teary-eyed doing it.)

Golly, a soft spot in your heart for onions huh?

[FJohnSharp]

half-and-half
A mixture of half milk and half cream. It has 10-12% milkfat and cannot be whipped.

plural: half-and-half
Ingredient


Season: available year-round

Substitutions: Equal parts milk and cream
1 cup half and half = 1 cup less 2 tablespoons milk plus 1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter

[gonzo914]

When served in bowls (the recommended method) garnish with a little chopped parsley or dried green onion.

How else would one serve this stuff?

But seriously -- This looks like an excellent recipe, and a versatile one to boot. And despite the absence of anything catching fire, it has high potential in the "Please have sex with me" department as you and the person in whose honor you are giving this entertainment bond over the tater peeling. Lots of opportunities for casual, non-intimate contact as you guide their little hands through the saute stage. And once it's all bunged togther, retire to the davenport for a spot of sherry while you wait for it to finish heating. This dish would work best when it's brass monkey cold outside and you have turned the thermostat down to about 60 inside.

Do you suppose it would hurt much if I tossed a small snifter of brandy or perhaps some marsala into the saute pan just before making the roux? Just for theatrical effect?

[Congratulations]

Do you suppose it would hurt much if I tossed a small snifter of brandy or perhaps some marsala into the saute pan just before making the roux? Just for theatrical effect?

'Round here, it's traditional to put some sherry in our seafood soups. Especially that old "Charleston delicacy," she-crab soup.

[Nanohedron]

Chicken stock is really what I mean. Just liquid, not solids in it. But, I buy it in containers that are labelled chicken broth.

If I understand correctly, stock is made from bones and broth is made from meat. Here in Amerikay, anyway. Some guy on the Food Network said so, so naturally I buy that. "Saw it on TV and all" sort of thing, you know. Of course, if you're making a soup from stock, the stock colloquially gets called the broth once it's soup. Go figure. Anyway, in the States it's a reliable bet that if you're buying "broth", it's made from meat, and if you're buying "stock", it's made from bones. Both are yummy. Oh, and be sure to buy unsalted stocks or broths. You can - and ought to - do any salting yourself.

Word to the wise: if you're making stock from fowl, don't boil the bones. Simmer them if you want the stock to be nice and clear, otherwise boiling makes for cloudy stock, and we don't like cloudy stock. Why this isn't an issue with other stocks is a mystery to me.

(Edited because...oh, it's just edited. Leave me alone.)

[Congratulations]

Chicken stock is really what I mean. Just liquid, not solids in it. But, I buy it in containers that are labelled chicken broth.

If I understand correctly, stock is made from bones and broth is made from meat. Here in Amerikay, anyway. Some guy on the Food Network said so, so naturally I buy that. "Saw it on TV and all" sort of thing, you know. Of course, if you're making a soup from stock, the stock colloquially gets called the broth once it's soup. Go figure.

Word to the wise: if you're making stock from fowl, don't boil the bones. Simmer them if you want the stock to be nice and clear, otherwise boiling makes for cloudy stock, and we don't like cloudy stock. Why this isn't an issue with other stocks is a mystery to me.

Yay! I learned that on Good Eats. Alton Brown is sexy.