Huge New England Clam Chowder

Name: Huge New England Clam Chowder
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 6 oz thick-cut bacon, diced; 2 tbsp unsalted butter; 1 large yellow onion, diced; 2 ribs celery, diced; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 1/4 cup all-purpose flour; 2 cups (16 oz) bottled clam juice; 1 cup chicken stock; 1.5 lb Yukon gold potatoes, diced 1/2-inch; 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves; 2 bay leaves; 3 cans (6.5 oz each) chopped clams with their juice; 1.5 cups heavy cream; 1 cup whole milk; to taste kosher salt; 3/4 tsp black pepper; 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce; 2 tbsp fresh chives or parsley, chopped (for serving); as needed oyster crackers (for serving)

Prep

15m

Cook

35m

Total

50m

Bigly says

Let me tell you something. New England clam chowder. The HUGE one. The greatest clam chowder in the history of clam chowder — and yes, I'm including all the ones from those little wooden shacks up in Massachusetts, the ones with the line out the door and the seagulls and the guy named Doug who's been making chowder since 1972. Doug is fine. Doug does okay. But Doug, with respect, is not making this. This is BETTER. Not even close. Sorry Doug.

Let's get something straight, right off the top: there is a faction of people — a small, misguided, deeply confused faction — who put TOMATOES in clam chowder. They call it Manhattan style. It is not chowder. It is tomato soup with a clam in it, and it is an EMBARRASSMENT to soup, to clams, to the entire eastern seaboard. We don't do that here. We don't acknowledge that. As far as I'm concerned, Manhattan clam chowder doesn't exist, it never happened, the chowder police should be involved. Real chowder is white. Real chowder is CREAMY. Real chowder is what we're making. Period.

Here's what nobody tells you: you need actual bacon, actual potatoes, actual cream, and CLAM JUICE. Clam juice. Not water. NEVER water. Clam juice IS the broth. Other sites bury this fact behind 18 popups and a cookie banner with 14 toggles asking you to opt out of 200 advertising partners — what are the partners, who ARE these people, why do they need to know I'm reading about soup, nobody knows — but I'm telling you up front: skip the clam juice and you've made potato soup with a sad little clam guest appearance. We're not doing sad guest appearances. We're doing a clam EVENT. Game over.

Ingredients

6 ozthick-cut bacon, diced(the bacon is the foundation, do not use turkey bacon)
2 tbspunsalted butter
1 largeyellow onion, diced
2 ribscelery, diced
3 clovesgarlic, minced
1/4 cupall-purpose flour
2 cups (16 oz)bottled clam juice(this is the broth, do not substitute water)
1 cupchicken stock
1.5 lbYukon gold potatoes, diced 1/2-inch
1 tbspfresh thyme leaves
2bay leaves
3 cans (6.5 oz each)chopped clams with their juice(or 2 lb fresh shucked clams plus juice)
1.5 cupsheavy cream
1 cupwhole milk
to tastekosher salt
3/4 tspblack pepper
1 tspWorcestershire sauce
2 tbspfresh chives or parsley, chopped (for serving)
as neededoyster crackers (for serving)

Steps

1
In a large heavy pot or Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until crisp and the fat has rendered. Transfer the bacon to a paper-towel-lined plate. Reserve 2 tablespoons of bacon fat in the pot and discard the rest.
2
Add the butter to the pot. Add the onion and celery and cook 6-8 minutes until softened and translucent.
3
Add the garlic and cook 1 minute until fragrant.
4
Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir to coat. Cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly, to remove the raw flour taste.
5
Slowly whisk in the clam juice and chicken stock, scraping the bottom of the pot to lift any fond.
6
Add the potatoes, thyme, bay leaves, and black pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook 15-18 minutes, until the potatoes are tender but not falling apart.
7
Strain the canned clams over a bowl, reserving the juice. Add the reserved clam juice to the pot. Set the clams aside.
8
Reduce heat to low. Stir in the cream and milk. Warm through but do not boil — boiling will toughen the clams and break the cream.
9
Stir in the chopped clams, Worcestershire, and most of the reserved bacon. Cook 2-3 minutes just to heat the clams through. Remove the bay leaves. Taste and adjust salt.
10
Ladle into bowls. Top with the remaining bacon and chives or parsley. Serve immediately with oyster crackers.

One more thing

This is the chowder. Thick enough that the spoon stands up, creamy enough that you forget you're eating soup and start treating it like a meal, and packed with clams and potatoes and bacon doing their respective jobs at the highest level. You serve this on a cold night and people don't speak. They eat. They go back for seconds. They ask about thirds. They start being NICE to you, suddenly, with no warning, because the chowder has reset their personality. That's what a real chowder does. The tomato faction can keep their experiment. We have the real thing here. That's the recipe.

★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★

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Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.

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