How to make the Best New England Clam Chowder/Key Secrets

New England Clam Chowder is traditionally made using salt pork and it does not use flour. The liquid is light, creamy and full of clam juice. In this recipe we use manilla clams but you can use little necks or cherry stones. You would steam them, take them out of shell and then chop them up. What's nice about manilla clams is you keep them whole.

Also in this episode we invited my culinary mentor, Gail Arnold, who currently lives in Boston, MA. I was her assistant from 1993-1996 when she was a private chef. I learned a lot from her and it was such a pleasure having her share her New England clam chowder recipe with us on Cooking with Kyler.

Here's how we made our New England clam chowder. You can always change up the ingredients but use this as a guide.

We used:

1/2 lb salt pork, diced (if you can't find salt pork, use bacon)
1/2 medium yellow onion
2 lbs manilla clams (or little necks, cherry stones or quohogs)
16 oz. clam juice from a bottle
2 cloves of garlic
1 lb. white or yukon gold potatoes, chopped (if using a baking potato, make sure you peel the skin)
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups milk
salt & pepper to taste
tabasco sauce, a few dashes
fresh herbs, garnish (chives, thyme and parsley are wonderful)
oyster crackers (optional)

cube or dice the salt pork and add it to soup pot. render at medium/high heat until crispy. Remove from pot and set aside.

Add the chopped onions to the pork fat and cook until translucent.

rinse clams. In a separate pot, add the clams and two cloves of smashed garlic. Add a splash of water. Cook over med/high heat with the lid on for about 5 minutes or until the clams opened up.

Using a slotted spoon, remove the clams from the pot and put in a bowl. Let cool, then pull out the clams from shell. Discard shells.

Add chopped potatoes to that lovely clam juice that the clams created and add an additional 16oz. of clam juice. Cook until tender. About 8-10 minutes.

Add the potatoes and juice to the onions. Using medium heat, add the cream and milk and gently stir. NEVER bring to a boil otherwise the base will break. Basically it will look very oily and greasy. Patience is key here, so keep it on medium to medium low heat. Add seasoning, a few dashes of tabasco and finally, stir in the clams.

You can add some herbs now or in your serving bowl.
This chowder is especially great when the air is brisk and and clouds are grey. This is one of Kyler's favorite things to eat when we eat out at restaurants.
I love adding cracked pepper, a small squeeze of lemon, additional dash of tabasco, thyme and a pinch of smoked salt. YUM!

be inspired, get creative and include the kids!

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