Chowder

“ Chopped celery, or onion, or both, improves the flavor for some people, and some like a teaspoon of chopped parsley.
No. 125. Clam Chowder.—There are innumerable ways of making this chowder, every cook book has one or more recipes for it, yet, hardly any two are alike. We give recipes for two ways of making, which we do not think can be improved upon. For the first one open clams enough to make a quart without the liquor, which you save and strain for the chowder. ”

“ An excellent chowder is made by putting pork, fish, cracker, meat, clams, and anything else that is handy, with vegetables, sufficient seasoning, and a little water, and stewing it well. Stew [308] ing can hardly be carried to excess, as from the closeness of the vessel the nutritious particles cannot escape.
The best omelette the tyro can make, and excellent it will be found, is by frying eggs, which are first beaten up and seasoned, till they are not quite firm. They must be stirred all the while to keep them from burning, and if they are done hard are ruined. ”

“ Cook until clams are very nearly done and then add your sliced white potato. Cook again until the potatoes are done. Then add whatever milk you put in and let it come to a boil. Put into the chowder what we call Boston cracker. They are shaped like a water cracker only they are soft. Split them in halves. These will soften up immediately and you can then serve your chowder.
[166]
Do not use any flour for thickening. If the chowder is prepared and the bellies of the clams cooked as above, this will make the broth thicken up. ”

“ Oh, sweet friends! hearken to me. It was made of small juicy clams, scarcely bigger than hazel nuts, mixed with pounded ship biscuit, and salted pork cut up into little flakes; the whole enriched with butter, and plentifully seasoned with pepper and salt. Our appetites being sharpened by the frosty voyage, and in particular, Queequeg seeing his favourite fishing food before him, and the chowder being surpassingly excellent, we despatched it with great expedition: when leaning back a moment and bethinking me of Mrs. Hussey’s clam and cod announcement, I thought I would try a little experiment. ”

“ Cod and bass make the best chowder. In making clam chowder, the hard part of the clam should be cut off and rejected.
Fish glue consists almost wholly of gelatine; 100 grains of good dry isinglass, containing rather more than 98 of matter soluble in water.
Isinglass may be obtained from many fish. Jackson states, that the sounds of cod afford it; and that the lakes of America abound with fish, from which the very finest isinglass may be obtained. This substance is best prepared in summer, as frost impairs the colour, and deprives it of weight and of gelatinous principle. ”

“ Fishiest of all fishy places was the Try Pots, which well deserved its name; for the pots there were always boiling chowders. Chowder for breakfast, and chowder for dinner, and chowder for supper, till you began to look for fish-bones coming through your clothes. The area before the house was paved with clam-shells. Mrs. Hussey wore a polished necklace of codfish vertebra; and Hosea Hussey had his account books bound in superior old shark-skin. ”

“ Clam fritters when prepared according to the recipe given herein, is one of the best methods of preparing the clam, and it has the peculiarity of being so tasty that one feels that there is never enough cooked.
Of all the ways of cooking clams chowder takes precedence as a rule, and it is good when made properly. By that we do not mean the thin, watery stuff that is served in most of the restaurants and called clam chowder just because it happens to be made every Friday. That is fairly good as a clam soup but it is no more chowder than a Mexican soup approaches a crawfish bisque. ”

“ It is unnecessary to say that, when done, it was the most remarkable chowder ever cooked, and the quantity eaten would have amazed the world if the secret had been divulged. After this exertion a siesta was considered the thing, and people lay about in tents or out as they pleased, the boys looking like warriors slumbering where they fell. ”

“ I can think of no luncheon more delightful than a nut chowder with finger croutons, beaten biscuit or whole wheat wafers, with fruit or other not too rich, dessert.
Raw nut butter may be used in all these chowders in place of butter or oil, giving a meaty flavor. ”

“ The cook and a last helper of some unknown function carry our trunks to the station. But it has now suddenly become a question whether we shall go on the 12.20 or wait for the 5.20. It depends finally upon our getting a last lunch at the restaurant of the bathing-beach. We ask, limiting our demands to a [Pg 223] clam chowder. We are answered that there are still clams, but the man who knows how to make chowder is gone. The restaurant family are going to lunch upon a ham bone, which is now being scraped for them. ”

“ The vegetable strainings left from a consommé, rubbed through the colander, make an excellent foundation for chowders.
★ Seashore Chowder—Corn 1 pt. to 1 qt. milk 1 pt. water 1 pt. corn grated or chopped 2–3 tablespns. oil or melted butter 5 small onions sliced 1 qt. potato in small pieces (not slices)
Heat oil (without browning) in kettle, add onions, simmer 10 m., then add the water, boiling, with salt and potatoes. Cook until potatoes are just tender, not soft; add the milk, hot, and then the corn. Heat to boiling and serve with crackers. ”

“ The entire boy portion of the population of Minchin’s Island had worked hard and earnestly [121] to prepare this feast of welcome, and the result of their labors was the chowder, which was being served by the means of a cocoa-nut shell dipper, with a large hole in the side, that somewhat retarded the progress. ”

“ The proportion of meat and vegetables used varies with their abundance and fixed quantities can not be adhered to. Fresh fish can be handled as above, except that it is cooked much quicker, and potatoes, onions, and canned corn are the only vegetables generally used with it, thus making a chowder. ”

“ Fish, sea-biscuit, corn-beef and pork, potatoes, onions, and pancakes, constitute their provisions, and what besides these would a reasonable man desire? It is with a mixture of some of these, that a chowder is concocted, and where can anything more delicious be found, even at the tables of the Astor and American? And with these ingredients, moreover, they manage very well to keep body and soul together, unless a storm on a rock-bound coast happens to make a sudden separation. ”

“ They enjoy trout as well as do the visitors, and of course, they are all expert cooks as well as boatmen. When noon-time comes, if there has been any luck, a camp-fire is built and the fish are fried, or broiled on the coals, or by experts, made into an excellent chowder. And never does one enjoy a fish dinner so much as under these circumstances. The exercise, the fresh air, the motion over the water, the deliciousness and delicate flavor of the fish, all conspire to tempt the most capricious appetite. ”

“ Great care should be taken not to scorch in the cooking.
[Clam Chowder may be made according to the foregoing formula, substituting 3 pints of clams for the fish.]
Clam Soup.
Take 50 small round clams; rinse clean, and put in a kettle with a pint of water; boil for a few minutes, or until the shells gape open; empty into a pan, pick the meat from the shells, and pour the juice into a pitcher to settle; chop the clams quite small; return the juice to the fire, and as soon as hot, work in a good-sized lump of butter, with a little flour, and juice of the clams; stir in a teacup of milk ”

“ Clam Chowder. 100 clams. 1 sliced onion. 12 butter or other small crackers, that can be split. 12 tomatoes, peeled and chopped. 1 tablespoonful minced parsley and half the quantity of mixed thyme, summer savory and sweet marjoram. A large pinch of mace and the same of cayenne pepper. 1 cup of milk—hot—for soaking the crackers, and butter for spreading them. 3 tablespoonfuls butter for chowder. Salt. ”

“ This is not a dainty dish, but it (69) affords a variety when the stomach is cloyed with a hard-times diet. Start with cold water.
Fish Chowder:—Fry out two slices of pork in the bottom of the kettle, and when well cooked, turn in 2 quarts of boiling water. Add 6 large potatoes, sliced thin, and cook until they can be broken by the mixing spoon. Have about 3 pounds of fish cut into convenient pieces, which should now be put in and cooked till it will break in pieces. Then add 1 quart of milk and season to taste with salt and pepper. When it comes to the boiling point, break in 12 crackers. ”

“ Cook salt pork and onion together slowly for ten minutes; add boiling water, and strain into chowder kettle; add potatoes and seasonings, and cook about fifteen minutes or until potatoes are tender; put corn into a strainer, [Pg 44] drain the juice into the kettle, and chop the corn, using finest cutter; add to chowder; add hot milk and crackers; and cook five minutes. The bits of pork and onion may be left in the chowder if desired.
77.—CORN AND TOMATO CHOWDER
Cook pork, onion, and pepper slowly for ten minutes ”

“ The appearance and odor of this stew are so pleasing as often to overcome the prejudices of those who “Wouldn’t touch an eel for the world! They look like snakes!” And those who have tasted them rarely enter a second demurrer. [56]
Fried Eels.
Prepare as for stewing; roll in flour, and fry, in hot lard or dripping, to a light brown.
Chowder (No. 1.) ”

“ Our exclusive method of cooking, mildly salting and packing the fish the same day it is caught—absolutely without preservative of any sort—retains all the fine delicate flavor. The sanitary container, itself, bespeaks the high quality of the contents. The fish is wrapped in pure parchment and hermetically sealed, without solder or acid—it never comes in contact with the metal. Every housewife will be delighted to find how delicious
Codfish Balls, Creamed Fish, Fish Hash, Fish Chowder, etc. ”

“ Place on the fire and cook for ten minutes; then take out the slices of pork and add the fish, milk, and the crackers split. Cook gently for half an hour, being careful to let the chowder only bubble at one side of the stewpan. At the end of the half-hour, taste before serving, to be sure to have it salt enough.
96 CHAPTER IX.
FISH. FRESH fish should frequently be substituted for meat. For those who live in seaboard towns there is no trouble in obtaining a variety. Every inland place has its own peculiar species, which should have precedence over other kinds ”

“ He may be either boiled or broiled, and makes a capital foundation for a chowder. He must by no means be confounded with the siskawit, which is only taken in the upper part of the lake, rarely exceeds seven pounds, and is so fat as almost to dissolve in the frying-pan—at least we were thus informed by our guides, for we took none ourselves.
The best time to take them is in calm weather,{64} because on such days they rise nearer the surface and are able to see the bait farther. If the wind is strong or the boat moving rapidly, they will not bite ”

“ When cold and set remove the fat; break up the jelly with a spoon or silver fork; serve in bouillon cups at any meal where it is desired.
Green Corn Chowder (To Serve Six)
Cut two slices (about two ounces) of fat salt pork into tiny bits; let cook in a frying-pan until the fat is well tried out, taking care to keep the whole of a straw color. Add two small onions, or one of medium size, cut in thin slices, and let cook until softened and yellowed, add a pint of water and let simmer. ”

“ Rewarding the vacuero with a ship's biscuit, we graciously permitted him to depart on his steed.
The chowder was done to a charm—smelled and tasted nicely—neither over done nor underdone, nor too much chilli, nor too dry, nor too cold; and not being afflicted with indigestion, we did full justice to the feast, and attacked the big pot unceasingly, whose capacious interior did not shrink from the encounter. [Pg 319] Still there is an end to all things, and there was, after a great while, to our appetites ”

“ Soak bread in cold water till soft—drain off the water, mash the bread fine, mix it with a table spoonful of melted butter, a little pepper and salt—a couple of raw eggs makes the dressing cut smoother—add spices if you like. Fill the fish, with the dressing, sew it up, put a tea cup of water in your bake pan, and a small piece of butter—lay in the fish, bake it from forty to fifty minutes. Fresh cod, bass, and shad, are suitable fish for baking.
77. Codfish.
Fresh cod is good boiled, fried, or made into a chowder. It is too dry a fish to broil. ”

“ Take a pint of oysters and chop them, put in a few bread-crumbs, a little pepper, shred mace, and an onion, mix them all together, and stuff your mutton on both sides, then roast it at a slow fire, and baste it with nothing but butter; put into the dripping-pan a little water, two or three spoonfuls of the pickle of oysters, a glass of claret, an onion shred small, and an anchovy; if your liquor waste before your mutton is enough, put in a little more water; when the meat is enough, take up the gravy, skim off the fat, and thicken it with flour and butter ”

“ But in talking of dried fish, we must not forget our old favorite, creamed codfish. As the boxed codfish is always so salty, it is necessary, after picking it carefully apart and removing the bones, to let it soak in cold water for half an hour, then drain. Put half a cupful of fish on in a stewpan, cover with cold water and let come to a boil. Pour this off immediately, cover with fresh boiling water, and let gently simmer for ten minutes. While it is cooking, our small maid should rub to a smooth paste one tablespoon of flour and one tablespoon of butter. ”