Is chowder primarily a New England dish? No, not at all. There are Pacific Northwest Chowders. In the upper midwestern United States there is Booyah. And we should not forget the fine Chowders from our neighbor to the North, or even Iberian inspired with chorizo. The classic chowders are the milk or cream based, such as smoky chicken chowder, roasted poblano, smoked ahi, or jalapeno sweet potato. Then of course there are the non-dairy or minimal dairy such as Manhattan Seafood Chowder, Rhode Island, Hatteras style, Bermuda Fish Chowder, Skinny Chowder, Emeril Lagasse's Creole Seafood Chowder, Cabo Chowder, ABC's Squash/Chili/Corn, Turkey and Lemongrass, Mussels and Fennel, Chupe de Pollo, Andalusian seafood chowder (Gazpachuelo con pescado), and Jeongol. If you find yourself in Myanmar, the go to chowder is mohinga. I will stop here, or I will end up pulling a Bubba Gump:
“Anyway, like I was sayin’, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. There’s shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That, that’s about it.”
Why is Chowder important? This is where a bit of historical study comes into play. Historically, and also today, Chowder is/was made in large iron pots, cooked for hour, (unlike this 4 minute approach), and was served at social gatherings. I would assert that we could all do with a bit more social gathering instead of sitting at home posting on Facebook, (nothing against Facebook, I just prefer people).
One of the biggest chowder celebrations in New England was Chowdafest 2015, Sherwood Island State Park - Westport CT - Sunday October 11, 2015. Breaks my heart that we missed it, but Kathy and I were gunkholing around the San Juan Islands. If you were able to go, I hope you voted for to Pike Place Chowder, their sampler is over the top. Many people feel that chowder has to have potatoes, but I made this award winning Wild Rice Chowder last night, yumm, and as luck would have it, when I went to the store, I found a two pack of filet Mignon, so I will make that recipe tonight.
Back to SANS Boston for a minute. It is common to have at least one panel discussion in the evening at a SANS conference. I wish we could have our panel discussion about Chowder, the soup, not the Chowder financial rule. Realistically, there would be four foodies in the audience and ten minutes into the panel, someone would interrupt and say, "let's go get some Chowder." Hey, that is still a social gathering. But, if we could have a vendor panel on some useful subject and they were to sponsor two, maybe three chowders, (a New England, a Pacific Northwest, and a vegetarian, probably corn), and some fresh bread, we might be on to something. Need to figure out how to get the hotel to go along with it, (i.e. make the Chowders), and what the topic of the panel would be. Fortunately we have time. In the mean time, if you have a favorite recipe or Chowder joint, please share that information. Either comment to this post or send email to stephen@sans.edu.
Even though Chowder has deep historical roots it is worth considering contemporary Chowders. The heavy cream, butter and bacon, does not play well with the increasingly clogged arteries of 2015 and 2016, so we are starting to see some healthier variants. In fact, a couple of nights after I wrote this I experimented with a dairy free skinny shrimp chowder, healthy, but this full fat shrimp chowder recipe looks good too. Today, I even saw a recipe for Chowder Salad, this healthy thing can go too far, after all you know what happened to Euell Gibbons; Jim Croce is not the only Junk Food Junkie. Got a hammer? Then you can make Whelk Chowder.
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