Makes 4 to 6 servings
I started chowdering at home when I realized that I wanted the nourishing soup in winter but was only having it during beach season. While the clam chowder I grew up on was the creamy kind known as New England style, the soup I turn to most is one of my own imagining, a riff on a New England version that nods to Thailand. Instead of cream, I use coconut milk. And instead of the traditional aromatics, I go for ginger and lemongrass, cilantro, basil and, if I can find it, kaffir lime. As for the pancetta, Yukon Golds, Vidalia onions and jalapeño? Not a bit Thai, I know, but so good in the mix.
If you want a more traditional New England chowder, look at the sidebar below.
a word on the clams and clam juice
I prefer to use chopped raw clams, either fresh or frozen, which I buy from a fishmonger or a supermarket (some markets sell them frozen by the quart; each quart contains about ¾ pound clams and ¼ cup liquid, which I pour into the soup pot). If all you can find are canned minced clams, use them. As for the juice, buy it in bottles or cans, and look for a brand that contains only clam juice or broth and salt. Of course you can make chowder with fresh clams that you cook first in water with aromatics. If you do this, you’ll get the clams and the juice, which you’ll want to strain (it can be sandy).
Working Ahead
You can make the chowder through the point where the potatoes are cooked and then refrigerate it overnight before finishing.
Working in a Dutch oven or large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter, then add the pancetta, onion, celery, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, jalapeño, bay leaf and kaffir lime, if you’ve got it. Stir everything around until it’s glossed with butter, season lightly with salt and reduce the heat to low. Cook, stirring, just until the onion is soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Stay close — you don’t want anything to color.
Pour in the clam juice and add the potatoes. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and let the potatoes simmer until they’re cooked through and tender — poke one with the tip of a knife, and it should give easily — about 20 minutes. (You can make the soup to this point, cover and refrigerate it overnight. Bring to a boil before continuing.)
Stir the coconut milk into the soup — from this point on, you don’t want it to get above a gentle simmer: Coconut milk will curdle if you boil it. Give the milk about a minute to warm, then drop in the clams and simmer until they are cooked through or, if they were cooked to begin with, warm. Taste the soup for salt (it might not need any) and pepper. Remove the bay and lime leaves.
Ladle the chowder into bowls, sprinkle with the herbs and crackers, if you’d like, and serve immediately — this soup is best very hot or chilled; anything in between will be pale and uninteresting.
Storing: The chowder will keep covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days and can be reheated gently — don’t boil.
Omit the lemongrass, ginger, jalapeño and kaffir lime. When you add the bay leaf, add the leaves from a few sprigs of thyme. Before you add the clam juice, sprinkle ¼ cup all-purpose flour over the onions and celery and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes. Then, if you’d like, pour over ¼ cup white wine, raise the heat and cook until it’s almost evaporated. Proceed with the recipe, but instead of adding coconut milk, add 1 cup whole milk and 1 cup heavy cream. Warm — don’t boil — and then add the clams. Serve with chopped dill and/or parsley, if you’d like. With this chowder, oyster crackers are not optional — they’re a must.