Huge Manhattan Clam Chowder
Prep
20m
Cook
45m
Total
65m
Bigly says
We need to talk about chowder. The HUGE one. The red one. The CORRECT one. And before the New England people write in — and they will write in, the New England people are a passionate people, they get very emotional about dairy in soup, very emotional, you wouldn't believe — yes, I know about New England clam chowder. I've HAD New England clam chowder. It's fine. It's a fine soup. It's a SOUP. But it's not chowder. Chowder has tomatoes. That's just a fact. I had a food historian explain this to me one time, took him 90 minutes, beautiful man, big beard, knew his stuff. He came back to the same conclusion every time: chowder is RED. End of discussion.
Manhattan clam chowder gets disrespected. It gets called 'just minestrone with clams,' which is SAD, which is the kind of thing a person says when they have no flavor in their life. Minestrone doesn't have clams. Minestrone doesn't have BACON. Minestrone is a beautiful Italian soup and it should stay in its lane. Manhattan clam chowder is its own thing. A proud thing. A New York thing — and New York knows what's up. New York invented the deli, the bagel, the slice of pizza you can eat while walking, tremendous innovations all of them, gifts to humanity. Manhattan also invented the right kind of chowder. Hands down.
The secret — and most chefs are afraid to say it out loud, total cowardice — the secret is the clam juice. You don't pour it down the drain. You SAVE it. You strain it. You build the broth ON the juice. The clams gave you a gift, you honor the gift, you don't dump the gift into the sink like an animal. Anyone who tells you to use water has lost the plot, they should turn in their apron, they should go work in an office. I had an old woman in a fish market in Sheepshead Bay grab me by the wrist once — actual wrist-grab, like an Italian grandmother, but Brooklyn — and she said three words: 'SAVE. THE. JUICE.' I've been saving the juice ever since. The woman was right. The woman is always right.
Ingredients
- 3 lblittleneck clams, scrubbed(fresh, in the shell, the canned ones are a coward's choice)
- 2 cupswater
- 4 slicesthick-cut bacon, diced
- 1 mediumyellow onion, diced
- 2 stalkscelery, diced
- 2 mediumcarrots, diced
- 4 clovesgarlic, minced
- 1/2 cupdry white wine
- 1 (28 oz) cancanned diced tomatoes
- 1 cupbottled clam juice(in case the fresh clams don't give you enough liquid)
- 1.5 lbYukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch cubes
- 2bay leaves
- 2 tspfresh thyme leaves
- 1/2 tspdried oregano
- 1/4 tspred pepper flakes
- 1 tsp, plus more to tastekosher salt
- 1 tspblack pepper
- 1/4 cupfresh parsley, chopped
- as neededoyster crackers (for serving)
Steps
- 1
Place the clams in a large pot with 2 cups of water. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook for 5-8 minutes, until the clams open. Discard any that do not open.
- 2
Remove the clams from the pot and let cool. Strain the clam-cooking liquid through a fine mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth or a coffee filter to remove any grit. Reserve.
- 3
Pick the clam meat from the shells and roughly chop. Discard the shells.
- 4
In a clean heavy pot or Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat for 5-6 minutes until crisp and the fat is rendered. Leave 2 tablespoons of fat in the pot and reserve the rest.
- 5
Add the onion, celery, and carrots to the bacon fat. Cook 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened.
- 6
Add the garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cook 1 minute.
- 7
Pour in the white wine and scrape up any browned bits. Simmer 2 minutes until reduced by half.
- 8
Add the strained clam broth, bottled clam juice, diced tomatoes (with their juice), potatoes, bay leaves, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
- 9
Simmer uncovered for 20-25 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the broth has thickened slightly.
- 10
Stir in the chopped clams and fresh thyme. Cook 2 more minutes, just to warm the clams through — do not boil or they will toughen.
- 11
Taste and adjust salt and pepper. Discard the bay leaves. Ladle into bowls, top with parsley and crisp bacon, and serve with oyster crackers.
One more thing
Red chowder. The right chowder. The chowder with COLOR, with personality, with a point of view. The cream-based people will keep doing what they're doing, they'll keep stirring their beige soup in their cold dark coastal kitchens, and that's fine, that's their journey, we wish them well. But for the rest of us, the people with vibrant lives and vibrant palates, this is the chowder. This is the one. That's the recipe.
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