chowders and bisques
There’s nothing in the world finer than Cape Cod clam chowder. The best one you’ll ever have is here. But you may not realize chowders and their cousins, bisques, are found in many places other than New England. The lobster bisque from Brittany you’ll encounter is so extraordinary that when you taste it you’ll marvel that it was made by your own hands. But try the others: they’re all amazing.
brazilian cod soup
This soup from the northwestern Brazilian city of Bahia is called moqueca de peixe. Bahian cooks often like their food quite spicy, typically using the habanero chile, called locally meleguetta pepper. But this soup is not spicy hot. Traditionally, the cook would use freshly grated coconut, but you can use unsweetened coconut flakes to make the coconut milk. Coconut milk is also sold in cans, usually in the Thai or Asian section of the supermarket, although a lot of gourmets consider that a poor substitute. Not all supermarkets sell the unsweetened coconut flakes, so you may need to seek out an Asian market or order them from www.kingarthurflour.com. Sources for the red palm oil, called dendê oil in Brazil, which gives the dish an essential taste, are www.afrikan-food.com, www.jbafricanmarket.com, and www.goldencoastfoods.com. If you like you can serve the soup with some cooked white rice, on the side or stirred in. [ Makes 4 servings ]
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
4 cups of boiling water
1 medium-size tomato, quartered
1 small green bell pepper, seeded and cut up
1 medium onion, quartered
Leaves from 8 sprigs cilantro (fresh coriander)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
11⁄2 pounds cod or haddock fillets, cut up into cubes
2 tablespoons red palm oil (dendê oil)
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1. Place the unsweetened coconut flakes in a bowl, pour the boiling water over them, and let steep for at least 15 minutes. Squeeze the liquid out through a strainer. This is the coconut milk.
2. Place the tomato, pepper, onion, and cilantro (fresh coriander) in a food processor and run until the mixture forms a coarse paste. Transfer the paste to a skillet and heat over low heat, stirring. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until softened, about 15 minutes. Add the fish fillets to the mixture and continue cooking until the fish turns pale white, about 8 minutes. Add the coconut milk, red palm oil, peanut oil, and lemon juice and simmer until hot, about 8 minutes. Serve hot.
peruvian shrimp chowder
This Peruvian chupe de camarones is a shrimp chowder typical of Arequipa, one of southern Peru’s largest cities which, although near the coast, is also at 7,550 feet elevation. This is a great recipe in which to use the powdered South American chile called ají amarillo, which I buy at www.penderys.com. [ Makes 6 servings ]
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 large tomatoes, peeled and cut into eighths
1 small potato, peeled and cut in sixths
1⁄2 teaspoon ground chile powder (ají amarillo)
1⁄4 teaspoon red chile flakes
11⁄2 teaspoons seasoning salt
21⁄2 teaspoons salt
4 drops Tabasco sauce
41⁄2 cups water
11⁄4 cups whole milk
2 ounces cream cheese (about 1⁄4 cup), at room temperature
2 corn cobs, kernels removed
1⁄2 pound medium shrimp, shelled
3 flounder, fluke, red snapper, rex sole, or sole fillets (about 11⁄2 pounds), cut into 6 pieces
6 sprigs mint
1. In a flame-proof casserole, heat the oil over medium heat, then add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until golden, about 10 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, potato, chile powder, chile flakes, seasoning salt, 2 teaspoons of the salt, and Tabasco. Add 3 cups of the water and 1 cup of the milk, then bring to a near boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, 5 to 6 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the potatoes are almost tender, about 15 minutes.
2. In a bowl, beat the cream cheese with the remaining 1⁄4 cup milk until very smooth. Stir the cream cheese mixture into the casserole. Add the corn kernels and cook until softened, about 15 minutes. Add the shrimp and continue to cook, stirring, until the shrimp are firm and orange-red, about 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, bring the remaining 11⁄2 cups water and 1⁄2 teaspoon salt to a boil in a skillet over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low and poach the fish fillets until fork-tender, about 6 minutes. Remove the fillets and place one in each of 6 soup bowls. Spoon the soup over the fillets, garnish with the mint, and serve hot.
parsnip chowder
Although the parsnip is originally from the Mediterranean, it hasn’t been terribly popular there since the Renaissance, when Maestro Martino da Como gave a recipe for deep-fried parsnips in his Libro de arte coquinaria (Book of the art of cookery), written in 1450. Subsequently, the parsnip made the voyage to the West Indies, where in 1564 it was introduced to Margarita Island off the coast of Venezuela. It didn’t grow well in the tropical climate, but by 1609 it was being grown in Virginia. From there it was dispersed by Native Americans, for the most part, and from 1629 appeared in Massachusetts, where it became a popular vegetable and whence this chowder hails.
Westfield, Massachusetts, became the capital of the parsnip, and when I grew them in my garden in Arlington, I would leave them in the ground to overwinter, digging them up in the spring. The most remarkable thing about a parsnip for most people is how naturally sweet and spicy they are. This is both a drawback and and an advantage of the plant—a drawback in that blander root vegetables usually win out in popularity because they combine easily with more foods (as, for example, the potato does). The parsnip is also a plant that doesn’t produce much food given the room it takes up in the garden. But its advantage is its taste, which you will experience in this delicious chowder. [ Makes 4 servings ]
2 ounces salt pork, cut into 1⁄2-inch dice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1⁄2 pound parsnips, peeled and diced
1⁄2 pound boiling potato (such as Yukon Gold or white rose), peeled and diced
21⁄2 cups chicken broth
11⁄2 cups whole milk
1⁄2 cup heavy cream
1⁄2 teaspoon salt or more if desired
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Oyster crackers or pilot crackers for garnish (optional)
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh parsley or chervil
1. Place the salt pork in a pot or flame-proof casserole and turn the heat to medium-low. Once it starts sizzling, about 4 minutes, reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly crispy and golden, about 10 minutes. Remove and set aside.
2. Increase the heat to medium, add 1 tablespoon of the butter to the pot and once it has melted, add the onion and cook, stirring, until softened and golden, about 5 minutes. Add the parsnips, potato, and 11⁄2 cups of the chicken broth, increase the heat to high, and bring to a boil. Cook at a boil, covered, until tender, about 15 minutes. If the chicken broth is evaporating too fast, add the remaining chicken broth. Reduce the heat to low.
3. Remove about 11⁄2 cups of the chowder and pass through a food mill back into the pot (or run for a few seconds in a food processor). Add the milk, cream, the remaining butter, the salt, and pepper and heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally, making sure it does not come to a boil, about 5 minutes. Serve hot with crackers, if desired, and parsley or chervil.
cape cod clam chowder
As this is the perfect recipe for the perfect clam chowder, I’m adapting it from my book Real Stew (Harvard Common Press, 2002), where it was first published. Forgive me for rattling on here, but this is important for chowders, for soupmaking, for life. To paraphrase one writer, a properly made New England clam chowder is a dish to preach about, a dish to sing hymns over, to fight for. I, too, feel very strongly about clam chowder. If one doesn’t feel strongly, if one doesn’t defend a particular way of cooking something, I believe one is not really interested in food and therefore allowed to ignore my ranting and raving here. Many fine cooks make many different fine chowders, from coastal Maine down to Virginia, and this one wouldn’t be worth writing about if I didn’t dogmatically claim that this recipe, this recipe right here, is the only true clam chowder.
This is a Cape Cod clam chowder, and I believe the best clam chowder is made on Cape Cod. Although I lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for fifteen years, the clam chowder there, which is Boston clam chowder, is just too thick, creamy, and floury, and I’ll bet it became that way because of tourists. Just as a proper chili con carne never has beans or tomatoes in it, for me a true clam chowder should never contain flour or cream, certainly never fish broth (might as well call it fish soup), and God forbid a tomato. A true clam chowder is very simple, but rarely gotten right. Adding flour, popular with restaurant chefs, turns the elixir into an unappetizing and gummy white mud. Clam chowder is made with milk, not cream, although I use cream to approximate the old-time taste of unhomogenized milk. Adding a tomato means you’re from below the chowder Mason-Dixon Line to New England chowdaheads.
A clam is a delicate creature and gets easily lost in too much starchy thickening, acidic vegetables, herbs, seasoning, or smoky bacon (as opposed to salt pork flavor). A true clam chowder is made with live quahogs with their liquor (Mercenaria mercenaria L.), and never canned clams, and with diced lean salt pork, onion, potatoes, butter, salt, white pepper (not black pepper, so the kids won’t try to pick it out), and if you can manage it, raw fresh creamery milk. In the early twentieth century, Cape Codders could easily get raw milk, which had a creamier taste than today’s pasteurized and homogenized milk. It’s therefore proper to mix whole milk with half-and-half or a little heavy cream to approximate this taste. Clam chowder can also have a potato, a little celery, and a little sprinkle of thyme—but that’s it. Some cooks use a combination of baking potatoes and boiling potatoes; the baking potato crumbles a bit to provide a thickness to the chowder. Chowder is always served hot—but not piping hot— with common crackers. And clam chowder is always “aged”—that is, it is best when it sits on a warm, turned-off stove for some hours, or if it is reheated.
What about shucked clams versus steamed clams? Well, normally one doesn’t need to shuck quahogs because they’re only used for chowder, whereas littlenecks and cherrystones (two names for smaller versions of quahogs) are usually eaten raw, so if you’re not proficient at shucking you can steam the clams slightly to open them.
“Chowder” appears to derive from the French chaudière, a cauldron used by the fishermen of Brittany to cook up a fish chowder. It seems that these Breton fishermen were responsible for bringing their chaudière to Newfoundland, where it was used to make a dish with fish or clams. From there chowder spread to Nova Scotia and New England, probably via fishermen who fished the Grand Banks and would regularly put into local ports when severe storms arose. In John R. Bartlett’s Dictionary of Americanisms published in 1848, a chowder is described as a dish from New England made of fresh fish, especially cod or clams, and stewed with slices of pork or bacon, onions, and biscuits, with the addition at times of cider or champagne.
The earliest chowders were fish chowders, and they were always made in a clear broth. They were also layered, and “chowder” was also used as a verb, meaning to cook like a chowder, that is, layering all the ingredients. There is no record of clam (as opposed to fish) chowder before the mid-nineteenth century; the first written mention of clams being used in chowder is from 1829, in Lydia Marie Child’s The Frugal Housewife. But we know that the clam was thriving along the New England shore when the Pilgrims arrived in the early seventeenth century, and we know from their letters that clams and mussels were foods described as “at our doors.” So it’s possible they made clam chowder.
The first mention of a chowder in print—and it was a fish chowder—was in 1732. In 1751, the Boston Evening Post published a recipe for chowder containing onions, salt pork, marjoram, savory, thyme, ship’s biscuit (hardtack), and fish, to which was added a bottle of red wine. All of the chowders mentioned before the mid-nineteenth century were made with water and not with milk, although they did contain salt pork. By 1880, clam chowder had become a regional dish from Maine to Virginia. The dividing lines between chowder made with milk and chowder made with tomatoes were also starting to form about this time, and they seem to be in southwestern Connecticut, south of which tomatoes are used, and Cape Cod, north of which milk is used. The no-man’s-land here seems to be Rhode Island and southeastern Connecticut, where a clear broth is used.
Every ingredient is important in chowder. First, the quahogs (pronounced ko-hogs). They should be live. Quahogs are too big and tough to be eaten raw; that’s why they are used for chowder. Some cooks use littlenecks, razor shell, or soft-shell clams, but if you do, you’re making a different chowder. On Cape Ann and on Cape Cod, soft-shell clams are used for fried clams, not chowder. In Maine, though, they’ll use any kind of clam. Surf clams (Spisula [Hemimactra] solidissima Dillwyn) are large, deep-water clams that get washed up with the surf on the ocean side of Cape Cod. They can be used in chowders, too. Second, the milk. Whole milk with half-and-half and/or cream will approximate the old-time taste. Third, the potatoes. They should be waxy boiling potatoes such as Yukon Gold or red rose that can handle boiling and still retain their shape. Don’t use baking potatoes; they will disintegrate and make your chowder too potatoey (although some people do like it that way). For the onion, I like to use any large yellow onion. I always use salt pork rather than bacon in chowders, because bacon is too strong a flavor.
Cooks have many secrets for making a good clam chowder; one of them is to cook the onions very gently so they caramelize a bit and disappear into the chowder. Doctoring your finished chowder with parsley or chives is a restaurant innovation to give the chowder “color.” Just remember: chowda don’t need no color—it’s already got one: white. One last warning: be very careful when heating the milk, or it will curdle. This recipe makes a good-size batch of chowder, which is just fine, because leftovers are heavenly. [ Makes 10 servings ]
20 pounds quahogs or large cherrystone clams or 5 cups chopped clams
1 tablespoon baking soda
2 quarts water
2 pounds boiling potatoes (such as Yukon Gold), peeled and diced
1⁄2 pound lean salt pork, diced
1 large yellow onion (about 14 ounces), finely chopped
Salt, if necessary
Freshly ground white pepper to taste
1⁄2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cups whole milk
3 cups half-and-half
1 cup heavy cream
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
12 split common crackers or oyster crackers
1. Prepare the clams by letting them soak in cold, clean seawater (preferably) or tap water for 1 hour with the baking soda. You can do this in a plugged-up kitchen sink. Remove the clams and rinse, then place them in a large 20-quart stockpot filled with an inch or two of water. Cover, turn the heat to high, and steam the quahogs until they all open, 25 to 30 minutes. Discard any clams that remain firmly shut. Remove the clams from their shells once they are cool enough to handle and discard the shells but save all the liquid. Strain the liquid through a strainer into a smaller stew pot. Strain again through a cheesecloth-lined strainer if necessary. Chop the clams. (You can do this in a food processor in pulses.) You should have about 5 cups of chopped clams.
2. Add all the collected clam juice to the water you steamed the clams in. If you have less than 2 quarts of liquid in the stockpot add enough water to the collected juices to make up the difference, although you will probably have more than 2 quarts.
3. Bring the reserved clam liquor to a boil, then cook the potatoes until three-quarters cooked and nearly tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the reserved chopped clams, cook at a boil for 5 minutes, then turn the heat off and let the chowder sit. If scum forms, skim it off at once.
4. Meanwhile, in a large skillet add the salt pork and cook over medium-low heat, stirring, until nearly crispy, about 15 minutes. Remove the salt pork with a slotted spoon and set aside. Reduce the heat to low, add the onion, and cook, stirring occasionally to deglaze the skillet, until golden and very soft, about 30 minutes. Add the salt pork and onion mixture to the potatoes and stir. Check the seasoning and add salt if necessary (it shouldn’t be necessary if you’ve used quahogs from Wellfleet) and the pepper and thyme. Let the chowder age in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
5. Remove the chowder and reheat over low heat. Once it is hot, add the milk, half-and-half, and cream. Cover and heat the chowder until it is about 140ºF. The broth should never even come close to a boil though, or the milk will curdle. Stir in the butter, and remove the stew pot from the burner, but leave on the stove, covered, to stay warm for 1 hour or more. Serve with common or oyster crackers.
mr. paca’s oyster soup
William Paca of Maryland, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was married to Ann Chase, whose father, Samuel Chase, a colleague of Mr. Paca and also a signer of the Declaration, was appointed to the Supreme Court by George Washington. In 1811, Ann Chase began writing a recipe book in which she recorded some of the favorite recipes of her husband, who had died in 1799, so we can assume that this recipe dates from his lifetime. William Paca loved a very thick oyster stew. This was a rich soup course served in the home of the chief magistrate of Maryland, but it was a popular even among ordinary denizens of Baltimore, probably only lacking the richness and spice of the kitchens of the upper classes. It’s possible that either a slave or a servant opened the oysters, or that they were authorized to pay the oysterman to shuck them.
Oysters were far more popular in late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century America than they are today. The harvest was vast and stories of oyster eating prodigious. Oysters were packed in barrels of ice and shipped on rivers and canals on the Eastern seaboard, and later in the nineteenth century railroads brought oysters to the rest of the country. Since oysters were larger in the eighteenth century than they are today, I have changed the directions slightly to thicken the soup before adding the oysters. This recipe is from Ann Chase’s manuscript, as reprinted in the book Maryland’s Way, published by the Hammond-Harwood House Association in 1964. The original recipe, which yields twelve servings, instructs, “Take half a gallon of oysters opened new with their liquor and stew them: when half done take a piece of butter the bigness of a teacup and rub in with as much flour as will thicken them. Season with pepper, salt, and mace. Just before you take them up add half a pint of cream.” [ Makes 4 servings ]
2 dozen oysters, scrubbed and washed well, soaked in cold water to cover with 1 tablespoon baking soda for 1 hour, and drained
1⁄4 cup water
1⁄4 cup unsalted butter (1⁄2 stick)
1⁄4 cup all-purpose flour, at room temperature
1⁄8 teaspoon ground mace or nutmeg
1⁄4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup hot heavy cream
Salt to taste if necessary
Oyster crackers for garnish
1. Place the oysters in a stockpot with the water, cover, and turn the heat to high. Once the oysters have opened slightly, after 1 to 2 minutes, turn the heat off, remove the oysters, pry them open with an oyster knife, and remove the oysters. Strain the oyster liquor through a fine mesh sieve into a clean saucepan and discard the shells. Set the oysters aside.
2. In a bowl, cream together the butter and flour with a fork.
3. Heat the pot containing the oyster liquor over low heat and once it starts bubbling around the edges add the mace, pepper, and butter-flour mixture, stirring to incorporate the flour. Cook until it thickens, about 2 minutes. Add the oysters and simmer until they begin to curl at the edges, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the cream, and season with salt if necessary. Serve with oyster crackers.
anne kearney’s oyster-fennel soup
This magnificent soup comes from Anne Kearney, former chef of Peristyle, a well-received New Orleans restaurant then serving a French-inflected bistro cooking with Creole overtones. One can see the Provençal inspiration in her recipe in the use of fennel, garlic, tarragon, and anise liqueur. The oysters should be cooked only until their edges curl up. You want them plump, juicy, and soft as pillows. Herbsaint is a typical anise liqueur of New Orleans, but any pastis such as Pernod, Ouzo, or Arak will do. A quart of oyster juice may be difficult to come by, so what I do is put two fat oysters in a blender with a quart of water and liquefy it; this also contributes to an interesting texture.
CAUTION: the amount of alcohol called for during the flambéing in Step 2 may be more than your stove top and range hood can handle, although it wouldn’t be in a restaurant kitchen. Run the range hood at full blast, make sure the work area and kitchen is clear of objects and people, and add the liqueur. Shake the pan gently to ignite it. It will burst alarmingly into flames, so be prepared to immediately remove the pan from the burner, as it will flame up quite high—possibly three feet—so it doesn’t scorch the hood. Lower the pan a bit away from the stove until the flames die down in about 10 seconds, then return it to the burner. I’m making this sound scarier than it is so you will know what to expect and can handle it all calmly. [ Makes 4 servings ]
For the broth
1 tablespoon peanut oil
2⁄3 cup diced onion
1⁄3 cup diced fennel bulb
1⁄3 cup diced celery
3⁄4 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1⁄2 cup Herbsaint, Pernod, Ouzo, Arak or other pastis
11⁄2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 quart oyster juice or fish broth
For the oysters and finish
24 shucked oysters
1⁄2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt or more to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat, then add the onion, fennel, and celery and cook until softened, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.
2. Add the liqueur carefully; with a slight, short jerk of the pan it will flame up alarmingly (see caution in headnote). Remove the pan from the stove until the flames die down in a bit, then stir constantly while the liqueur burns off to prevent it from burning the vegetables. Once the flame is extinguished, sprinkle on the flour and cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes. Add 1 cup of the oyster juice, scrape the bits from the bottom of the pan, and transfer the contents of the pan to a pot.
3. Add the remaining oyster juice to the pot and bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. The soup can be kept warm at this point and reheated later.
4. When you are ready to serve, bring the broth to a boil over high heat, then add the oysters and cook until their edges begin to curl, about 2 minutes. Stir in the cream, tarragon, chives, parsley, salt, and pepper, turn the heat off, and serve.
maryland crab soup
The blue crab used in a Maryland crab soup has the scientific name Callinectes, which is Greek for “beautiful swimmer.” The earliest recipe of a precursor to Maryland crab soup that I'm familiar with is from 1820; it is for “gumbo soup with crab,” from the Baltimore “receipt” book of Mary Galloway Maxcy, the wife of the solicitor of the U.S. Treasury. I think there is a strong argument to be made that the roots of Maryland crab soup rest in the gumbo made by African slaves in the South, because of the tomatoes, spices, and variety of diced vegetables. The Maxcy’s were slave owners, and it’s possible that the soup was learned from one of the domestic slaves.
In Maryland there are two basic crab soups: this one, which is spicy and tomato based, and cream of crab soup, which is usually made with milk, chicken broth, and sometimes sherry. There is a huge range in recipes for this summer soup—some cooks using fish broth, others water, some more vegetables—but in the end most all Maryland crab soup recipes are thick soups meant to feed a large number of people. I’ve scaled this recipe down just a bit, but it is still a summer party dish that will feed about twelve people. Typically, the crabs for the broth would be the leftover carcasses from a steamed crab dinner the day before, but I use fresh crabs and keep the carcasses and shells to make another crab broth.
In putting together this recipe I’ve consulted a number of sources: “Wayne’s Award-Winning Maryland Crab Soup” from Paula Deen’s television show “Paula’s Home Cooking, Episode: Weekend House Guest”; David Ansel’s The Soup Peddler’s Slow & Difficult Soups, published by Ten Speed Press; Canton Cooks, a cookbook compiled by the Canton neighborhood library in Baltimore; and Chef Nancy Longo of Pierpoint Restaurant in Fell’s Point, Baltimore. But most importantly, my friend Boyd Grove, denizen of Baltimore and connoisseur of crab soup, tells me that it’s meant to be thick, and not served as a first course. [ Makes 12 servings ]
1⁄2 pound thick-cut bacon, cut into 1⁄2-inch squares
1 medium onion, chopped
8 quarts water
One 35-ounce can plum tomatoes
12 fresh blue crabs (about 3 pounds) or 2 Dungeness crabs, cut in half (or 12 blue crab carcasses)
11⁄2 cups chopped celery
11⁄2 cups fresh corn kernels (about 3 cobs)
11⁄2 cups 1⁄4-inch-dice green beans
11⁄2 cups fresh or frozen peas
11⁄2 cups fresh or frozen lima beans
11⁄2 cups diced potatoes
3 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning
1 tablespoon red chile flakes
3 tablespoons salt
1 pound fresh crab claw meat, picked over
1. In a skillet, cook the bacon and onion over medium-high heat, stirring, until half-cooked and not yet crispy, about 8 minutes. Set aside.
2. In a large stockpot, add the water and tomatoes and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the live crabs and boil for 12 minutes. Remove the crabs and set aside to cool. (If using carcasses, leave them in the pot.) Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 hour.
3. Meanwhile, remove the meat from the crabs and set aside. As this is mysteriously complicated unless you are from Maryland, see the box below for guidance on how to shell a crab.
4. After the soup has been simmering for 1 hour, add the celery, corn, green beans, peas, lima beans, potatoes, Old Bay seasoning, red chile flakes, and the reserved bacon and onion; if you have used crab carcasses and shells, strain the soup before adding the vegetables and discard the shells. Simmer until the vegetables are cooked, about 30 minutes. Season with salt. Add the reserved crab meat and the fresh claw meat, stir, and serve.
maine lobster stew
First, be aware that lobster stew, like clam chowder, is a two-day affair. The first day is for preparing it; then it goes overnight in the refrigerator for its “seasoning.” It’s hard to believe that this simple soup was once considered poor people’s food in Maine. The great Maine writer Stephen King, whose family was poor, describes how his mother kept lobster stew on the stove but out of embarrassment would hide it away when company came. The scene appears in his short story “The Reach.”
As best I can make out, lobster stew is what they call lobster chowder in Maine. But one should be careful about a proper Maine lobster stew, because many recipes are called Maine lobster chowder or stew simply because they have lobster from Maine in them. Those are not Maine lobster stews. Although all those fanciful recipes might taste just fine, it is important that we make this stew as a Downeaster would, and that means simply. The Pulitzer Prize–winning Maine poet Robert P. T. Coffin (1892–1955) advised that lobster stew should be half lobster and half liquid. Sometimes you will find white wine or sherry in lobster stew. This harks back to the first lobster stew recipe I’m familiar with, the one in the Accomplished Cook by Robert May, published in London in 1685, which uses claret. [ Makes 4 to 5 servings ]
Two 2-pound live lobsters (yields about 18 ounces lobster meat)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups heavy cream
11⁄2 cups whole milk
3 tablespoons very dry sherry
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Oyster crackers for garnish (optional)
1. The day before you plan to serve, in a stockpot, bring 1 inch of water to a boil over high heat, then add the live lobsters, partially covered, and steam for 15 minutes. Remove the lobsters and when they are cool enough to handle, crack them and remove all the meat from the arms, claws, body, legs, and fan tail. Chop into pieces not larger than 3⁄4 inch. Set aside along with any tomalley and coral you find in the lobster, reserving the shells.
2. Place the shells in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil over high heat and boil for 1 hour. Remove and discard the lobster shells and strain the broth, setting aside 1 cup.
3. In a large pot, melt 5 tablespoons butter over high heat, then add the lobster meat and cook, stirring, until bubbling vigorously, about 2 minutes. Slowly stir in the cream and milk. Add the reserved 1 cup of lobster broth and the sherry and season with salt and pepper. Cook over high heat until tiny bubbles appear on the edges. Turn the heat off. Stir in the reserved lobster tomalley and coral, let cool, and place in the refrigerator overnight.
4. Bring water to a boil over high heat in the lower portion of a double-boiler. Pour the lobster stew into the top part of the double-boiler and heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until very hot but not bubbling, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the remaining tablespoon of butter and once it has melted, serve with crackers, if using.
lobster and corn chowder
When I lived In New England, this favorite was one we made once a year, usually with leftovers from our August lobsterfest. After such a feast is the easiest time to make it, because you will have leftover lobster meat, shells, and corn. But it’s spectacular enough to make anytime. You will see recipes for this soup with twice the amount of lobster I use. I feel that’s overindulgence, because there is so much flavor in the chowder as it is. It also should be simple, like all chowders; it doesn’t need a thousand ingredients. [ Makes 4 to 6 servings ]
One 2-pound live lobster
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1⁄2 cup diced salt pork
2 boiling potatoes (about 3⁄4 pound), peeled and diced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 quart half-and-half
4 cooked corn cobs, kernels scraped off (about 2 cups)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1⁄8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1. In a large pot, bring a couple of inches of water to a boil over high heat, then cook the lobster covered with just a little opening for steam to escape, about 12 minutes. Remove and let cool. When cool enough to handle, remove the meat, cut into 3⁄4-inch pieces, and set aside; you should have about 14 ounces of meat. Save the shells, place in a pot with 2 quarts water, and bring to a boil. Boil for 30 minutes, strain the broth, and set aside.
2. In a large saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons of the butter with the salt pork over medium-low heat, then cook, stirring, until the salt pork is crispy, about 10 minutes. Add the potatoes and onion and cook, stirring, until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the half-and-half and 2 cups of the strained lobster broth and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat before anything begins to boil and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 6 minutes. Add the lobster meat, corn, salt, pepper, and cayenne and simmer until the lobster meat is hot, about 10 minutes. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and once it melts, serve immediately.
norwegian fish soup
This creamy, celery-flavored fish chowder is called fiskesuppe in Norwegian, meaning, simply enough, “fish soup.” It’s interesting to speculate whether the chaudière or chowder from Brittany that is thought of as the progenitor of the chowders of New England may have its roots in some kind of Viking food. We know that Viking raids in Normandy and Brittany were common in the ninth century and that the Northmen ate lots of fish—dried, salted, and fresh—and lots of milk products, such as sour milk, buttermilk, and skyr, a kind of cheese curd, but there is no mention of chowders (and, in fact, no mention of any actual dishes at all) in the historical record. In any case, this delicious chowder is adapted from a recipe in Ekte Norsk Mat by Astrid Karlsen Scott. [ Makes 4 to 6 servings ]
2 cups water
4 celery stalks, chopped
1⁄2 cup diced salt pork
1⁄4 cup (1⁄2 stick) unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons salt or more to taste
1⁄2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or more to taste
2 cups fish broth
1 medium onion, chopped
11⁄2 cups (about 1⁄2 pound) cut-up fish fillet (such as flounder, fluke, or cod)
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
1. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot over high heat, then add the celery and cook until tender, about 7 minutes. Set aside with the water it cooked in.
2. In a skillet, cook the salt pork over medium-low heat, stirring, until crispy, 8 to 10 minutes. Set aside.
3. To prepare the white sauce, in a pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat, then stir in the flour to form a roux and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove the saucepan from the heat, slowly whisk in the milk and cream, return to medium heat, and cook, stirring, until the white sauce becomes thicker, 7 to 8 minutes. Season with the salt and pepper.
4. Add the fish broth to the cream sauce to make it thinner and reduce the heat to low. Add the cooked salt pork, chopped onion, and celery and cooking water to the broth, stir, then add the fish fillets and cook over low heat for 20 minutes. Serve the soup hot with chives.
frisian mustard soup
This soup is always surprising because of the sharp bite of the mustard, a wonderful flavor for the shrimp and fish broth. It’s called Amelander mosterdsoep in Dutch and is an old Frisian recipe from the island of Ameland. The Frisian Islands are a string of long and narrow sandy barrier islands in the North Sea running along the northeast coast of Holland, the northwest coast of Germany, and a portion of Denmark. The people speak Frisian, a Germanic language that is the language closest to English.
To prepare the mustard, stir together 2 tablespoons of powdered mustard seed with some water, then add more mustard or water until it is the consistency of a Dijon mustard from a jar. Many supermarkets sell the small shrimp required for this soup, already cooked and shelled, in the frozen foods section; they will work fine. [ Makes 4 servings ]
4 tablespoons (1⁄2 stick) unsalted butter
1 large onion, chopped
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 cups boiling fish broth
6 tablespoons heavy cream
31⁄2 tablespoons powdered mustard, mixed with a little water to form a smooth consistency
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
4 teaspoons nonpareil capers, rinsed
11⁄2 teaspoons salt
3⁄4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 ounces small shrimp, shelled
3 tablespoons very thinly sliced white part of leek
1. In a large pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat, then add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 6 minutes. Stir in the flour to form a roux, stirring for about 1 minute, then slowly add the fish broth, stirring, until well blended and smooth.
2. In a bowl, stir together the cream and blended mustard. Add to the soup with the vinegar, capers, salt, and pepper and cook over medium-high heat, making sure it doesn’t come to a boil, until bubbling lightly on the edges of the saucepan, about 3 minutes. Add the shrimp and heat, without letting the broth boil, until cooked through and orange-red, about 5 minutes for fresh shrimp and less if using cooked shrimp. Check the seasoning. Sprinkle on the leeks, cook for 1 minute, and serve.
shrimp bisque
This bisque is adapted from a recipe by Taunt Nit of Forked Island, Louisiana, who says that it is sometimes called white shrimp stew. Make sure the milk never comes to a boil, or it may curdle. If it does you can correct it somewhat by blending in some beurre manié, a blend of equal parts soft butter and flour, to thicken it again. You can serve this with corn bread or oyster crackers. Crab, crayfish, or lobster may be substituted for the shrimp. [ Makes 4 to 6 servings ]
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
21⁄2 pounds fresh shrimp with their heads or 11⁄4 pounds defrosted headless shrimp, heads and/or tails removed and saved for making broth if desired or 3⁄4 pound raw shelled shrimp
1⁄4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 quart whole milk
11⁄2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon hot paprika
1⁄2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
In a large pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat, then add the onion and celery and cook, stirring, until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes. Stir in the flour and once it is blended in, pour in the milk in a slow stream, whisking gently the whole time. Add the salt, Tabasco sauce, paprika, white pepper, and lemon juice. Bring to just below a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.
prawn bisque
As prawns are nearly impossible to get in the United States, you can use shrimp: although prawns look like miniature lobsters, their taste is closer to shrimp. This Australian soup is creamy and delicious. Australian cooks also make this soup with yabbies, the name of a local crayfish (Cherax destructor) that typically is four to eight inches long. [ Makes 4 to 6 servings ]
2 pounds large shrimp
4 cups water
1 medium onion, chopped
1 celery stalk including the green tops, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
3⁄4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or more to taste
1⁄2 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1⁄2 teaspoon paprika
1⁄2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon brandy
1 cup whipped cream for garnish
Zest from 1⁄2 lemon, very thinly julienned for garnish
1. In a large saucepan, bring 3 quarts of water to a rolling boil, salt the water abundantly, then cook the shrimp until they turn orange-pink, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove and let cool. Remove the shells and set the shells aside. Devein the shrimp if necessary. Set aside 6 shelled shrimp for garnish.
2. In a pot, add the shrimp shells, water, onion, and celery, bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium and cook, covered, for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool slightly. Strain and set the broth aside.
3. In a pot, melt the butter over low heat, stir in the flour, salt, and pepper to form a roux, then cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Slowly add the shrimp broth and stir until thickened and bubbling, about 10 minutes. Stir in the wine, tomato paste, and paprika and cook gently, stirring, for 10 minutes.
4. Transfer the soup, in batches if necessary, to a blender, add the shrimp and cream and blend until smooth. Pour back into the pot with the brandy and heat through gently over medium-low heat. Do not allow this mixture to boil. Serve garnished with a dollop of whipped cream, the reserved shrimp, and the lemon zest.
lobster bisque
Lobster bisque is one of the great soups of the world. It’s hard to say where it originally comes from, but Brittany is a good guess, as the word bisque, although its origin is unknown, may derive from the Bay of Biscay. Another thought is that it derives from bis cuit, “twice-cooked.” In any case, although its origins may be obscure, the word is indeed French. Today, a bisque is a cream soup made with shellfish. In the eighteenth century, though, bisque was used for all manner of soups made from pigeons or game and not necessarily creamed or puréed. This bisque de homard is labor intensive, but it is lightly creamy, with a wonderful lobster flavor coming from the broth, and a very memorable experience. Make it on a special occasion for special people. [ Makes 12 servings ]
For the lobster broth
3 quarts water
Three 11⁄2-pound live lobsters
2 bottles dry white wine
3 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 leek, white and light green parts only, split lengthwise, washed well, and thinly sliced
1⁄2 celery root (celeriac), peeled and diced
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Grated zest of 1⁄2 orange
Bouquet garni, tied in cheesecloth, consisting of 12 sprigs fresh parsley and 4 sprigs tarragon
For the bisque
6 tablespoons (3⁄4 stick) unsalted butter
4 shallots, finely chopped
1 small carrot, very finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
One 6-ounce can tomato paste
3⁄4 cup dry white wine
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1⁄4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh tarragon
4 tablespoons cognac
1 cup heavy cream
1. To make the broth: bring the water to a boil in a large stockpot, add the lobsters, and cook for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the lobster and cool, reserving the cooking water. Remove all the meat from the lobsters and save any tomalley and coral. Cut up the lobster meat and set aside. Return the empty shells to the stockpot with the cooking water and add the white wine, tomatoes, leek, celery root, celery, carrot, garlic, orange zest, and bouquet garni. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to low and simmer, uncovered, for at least 1 hour. Drain through a fine wire mesh sieve and reserve, discarding the vegetables and shells.
2. To make the bisque: in a large pot, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter over high heat, then add the shallots, carrot, and garlic and cook, stirring, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the wine and cook for 3 minutes, then add the reserved lobster broth and simmer for 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and the cayenne. Continue to simmer the broth for another 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Whisk in the flour to form a roux, then add 2 teaspoons of the chopped tarragon, reserved lobster tomalley and coral, and a little lobster broth. Stir until smooth. Add 1 tablespoon of the cognac and stir. Turn this mixture into the lobster broth, now called a bisque. Bring to a boil and continue to whisk until thickened. Reduce the heat to medium, season with salt and pepper, and simmer for another 15 minutes.
4. Whisk the cream into the bisque, then add the remaining 3 tablespoons cognac. Add the lobster meat, heat until very hot, then serve immediately, garnished with the remaining 1 teaspoon tarragon.
velouté joinville
A velouté is classically defined as a thick soup that is roux based, meaning a liaison of flour and broth (or milk) enriched with another liaison of cream and egg yolk. In modern restaurants, roux-based sauces and soups are unfashionable, but there is no reason they should be, and at home we home cooks can use them without constraint because we seek good food, not fashion. But you do need to be careful with roux, because they can make a soup taste heavy rather than thickened—this is probably why they became unfashionable.
The name of this classic seafood velouté, rich with fish broth, shrimp, mussels, and mushrooms, derives from Francots de Joinville (1818–1900), the duke of Orleans and son of the nineteenth-century French king Louis-Philippe. In classic French cooking there are a number of preparations called à la Joinville, and many of them have the shrimp and mushroom combination. If you have to use large shrimp, slice them so they are about a half inch long. [ Makes 4 to 6 servings ]
16 mussels, debearded and washed well
4 cups fish broth
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1⁄2 pound very small shrimp, shelled
Salt to taste
3⁄4 cup sliced button (white) mushrooms
1⁄4 cup thinly sliced white part of leek
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup heavy cream
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Freshly ground white pepper to taste
1. Place the mussels in a pot with 1⁄2 cup of the fish broth. Bring to a boil, covered, over high heat, and steam until all the mussels have opened, 5 to 8 minutes. Discard any mussels that remain firmly shut. Remove the shells from the pot and extract the mussels, setting them aside. Strain the remaining broth through a fine mesh strainer and add this mussel liquid to the rest of the fish broth.
2. In a pot, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat, then add the shrimp and a little salt and cook, stirring, until orange-pink, about 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside with the mussels.
3. Add the mushrooms and leek to the pot, cover, and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the leek and mushrooms with a slotted spoon and set aside with the shellfish, keeping both warm.
4. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in the pot over medium heat, then stir in the flour to form a roux and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes until it turns golden. Add the remaining fish broth and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring or whisking constantly to remove any lumps. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, combine the cream and egg yolk, then add to the broth, stirring vigorously, and simmer for 3 more minutes, making sure it does not boil. Add the reserved mussels, shrimp, and mushrooms and leek, stir in the lemon juice, season with salt and white pepper, and serve.
icelandic curried langoustine soup
Langoustines, otherwise known as Dublin Bay prawns, are more closely related to lobster than shrimp. They are what the Italians call scampi. Prawns are not the easiest thing to find, so I substitute jumbo shrimp or lobster in this recipe called humarsúpa úlfars or karríkrydduð humarsúpa in Icelandic. It is adapted from one published in Reykjavik’s Morgunbladid newspaper that was translated for me by my friend Gudrun Magnusdottir, who tells me that this is considered a modern soup, perhaps no more than seventy-five years old. That’s obvious from the use of garlic, curry, and paprika, which I don’t think anyone would associate with Iceland.
Langoustines are usually sold frozen in this country and can be replaced with lobsters (for a closer taste), crayfish, or jumbo shrimp. In Icelandic, the butter-and-flour ball is called smjörbolla and is used as a thickener for sauces. Most professional kitchens call it beurre manié, following the French. If you are using lobster instead of langoustines, it will be easiest to steam it before preparation. Some cooks add a splash of brandy at the end. In place of the fish base paste you can reduce the water to 4 cups and add 2 cups of lobster or shrimp broth. [ Makes 4 servings ]
12 langoustines, 12 extra jumbo shrimp (about 3⁄4 pound), or one 2-pound live lobster
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 large button (white) mushrooms, finely chopped
3⁄4 cup tomato purée
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1⁄2 teaspoon curry powder
6 cups water
3⁄4 cup white wine
1 teaspoon fish base paste or 1 fish bouillon cube
1 teaspoon beef base paste or 1 beef bouillon cube
1⁄4 cup flour blended with 1⁄4 cup (1⁄2 stick) room temperature unsalted butter
3⁄4 cup heavy cream
21⁄2 teaspoons salt
11⁄2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1. If using langoustines, steam in 1 inch of water for 3 minutes. If using shrimp, boil in salted water until orange-pink, about 2 minutes. If using lobster, steam in several inches of water for 15 minutes. Let the cooked shellfish cool.
2. Split the langoustines down the middle and remove the innards. Remove the tail meat, cut into 1⁄4-inch strips, and set aside, reserving the shells. If using shrimp, remove the shells, split them in half lengthwise, and reserve the shells. If using lobster, remove all the meat from the shells, slice into strips, and reserve the shells.
3. In a large pot, melt the butter over low heat, then add the langoustine, shrimp, or lobster shells and cook for 15 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, mushrooms, tomato purée, paprika, and curry and continue to cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Stir in the water, white wine, fish and beef base paste or bouillon cube and continue to simmer for 1 hour. Strain the broth through a strainer and return to a clean pot, discarding all the shells and vegetables. Add the flour-butter mixture and whisk until everything is blended and thickened.
4. Pour the cream into the broth and stir. Season with the salt and pepper. Bring the broth to a furious boil over high heat, add the reserved shellfish meat, and cook until firm and curled up, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce the heat if it is welling up over the edge of the pot. (If using cooked lobster it only needs to be heated for about 1 minute.) Ladle the soup into individual soup bowls and let rest 5 minutes before serving.
fish and chile chowder
This is one of the most satisfying chowders you’ll ever eat, quite perfect in winter but great anytime if you like chiles. The two different chiles have different floral bouquets resulting from their nature and their preparation. This a great soup for a make-ahead dinner, as it actually improves in taste if you can leave it to sit and age a bit. The pasilla (sometimes misnamed poblano) chiles can be replaced with long green chiles (peperoncini). [ Makes 4 servings ]
2 pasilla (poblano) chiles
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
1⁄2 celery stalk, chopped
2 habanero chiles, seeded and finely chopped
2 ounces salt pork, diced small
4 cups fish broth
1 medium Yukon Gold potato (6 ounces), peeled and diced
Kernels from 1 corn cob (about 11⁄2 cups)
1 cup cream
3⁄4 pound mixed fish fillets, such as cod, flounder, fluke, haddock, or hake, cut into bite-size pieces
2 teaspoons salt
3⁄4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (fresh coriander) leaves
1. Preheat the oven to 450ºF.
2. Place the pasilla chiles in a baking pan and roast until the skin blisters black all over, about 30 minutes. Remove and when cool enough to handle, peel and remove the seeds. Cut the chiles into strips or smaller pieces.
3. In a large saucepan, heat the peanut oil over medium heat, then add the onion, garlic, celery, habanero chiles, and salt pork and cook, stirring frequently, until crispy, about 12 minutes.
4. Add the fish broth, potato, and corn, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the potato is tender, about 30 minutes. Add the cream and roasted pasilla chiles and cook until heated in a few minutes. Add the fish, salt, and pepper and cook until the fish starts to flake, about 20 minutes. Turn the heat off, cover, and let sit to mellow for 1 hour. Reheat a little if necessary and serve with a sprinkle of the cilantro.