Chowder - WikiHQ

Chowder is a type of thick soup prepared with milk or cream, a roux, and seafood or vegetables. Oyster crackers or saltines may accompany chowders as a side item, and cracker pieces may be dropped atop the dish.

Clam chowder from New England is typically made with chopped clams and diced potatoes, in a mixed cream and milk base, often with a small amount of butter. Other common chowders include seafood chowder, which often consists of fish, clams, and other types of shellfish; lamb or veal chowder made with barley; corn chowder, which uses corn instead of clams; various fish chowders; and potato chowder, which is often made with cheese. Fish, corn, and clam chowders are popular in North America, especially Atlantic Canada and New England.

Etymology

thumb|Potato and corn chowder

The origin of the term chowder is obscure. One possible source is the French word chaudron, Chodier was also a name for a cooking pot in the Creole language of the French Caribbean islands. Additionally, a Portuguese, Brazilian, Galician and Basque fish and shellfish stew is known as caldeirada which appears to have a similar etymology.

Another possible source of the word "chowder" could be the French dish called chaudrée (sometimes spelled chauderée), which is a thick fish soup from the coastal regions of Charente-Maritime and Vendée. Yet another etymology could be the Quebecois French word chaudière, which means "bucket".

In the sixteenth century in Cornwall and Devon the dialectal word "jowter" was used to describe hawkers, particularly fishmongers, which later turned into "chowder" and "chowter". However, this is not cited by the Oxford English Dictionary as a possible source due to controversy regarding the origins of the dish itself. The earliest citation the OED gives for the word used in its current sense of a fish-based stew is American.

History

Chowder as it is known today originated as a shipboard dish, and was thickened with the use of hardtack.

Chowder was not utterly unfamiliar in England at the time, as in Sir Launcelot Greaves (1762) Tobias Smollett has one character state, "My head sings and simmers like a pot of chowder". Cookbooks of the period included recipes for "Chowder, a Sea Dish" which might be thicker than a soup: in 1830 an English baked dish made with salmon and potato was called a chowder.

In 1890, in the magazine American Notes and Queries, it was said that the dish was of French origin. Among French settlers in Canada, it was a custom to stew clams and fish laid in courses with bacon, sea biscuits, and other ingredients in a bucket called a "chaudière". The Native Americans adopted it as "chawder", and the name (and the dish) eventually became "chowder" in the United States. After the Revolutionary war, the fourth of July was celebrated with picnics, fireworks, dances and dinners. The foods served varied according to the customs of each region. Chowder was one of the dishes commonly served for the celebrations in the northern United States.

In the United States, early chowder making is traced to New England. It was a bowl of simmering chowder by the seaside that provided in its basic form "sustenance of body and mind – a marker of hearth and home, community, family and culture". It evolved along the coastal shoreline of New England as a "congerie" of simple things, very basic and cooked simply. It is a simple dish of salt and pepper, potatoes and onion, pork and fish, cream and hard crackers, and not a sophisticated dish of the elite. Its simplicity made it attractive and it became a regional dish of the New Englanders, and their favourite recipe was "chowder master". "Symbolically, functionally, mnemonically or dynamically" chowder has become a community-defining symbol for New Englanders. Etta M. Madden and Martha L. Finch observe that chowder provides "visceral memories that provided feelings of familiarity, comfort and continuity".

A recipe formulated and published in 1894 by Charles Ranhofer, a famous chef of Delmonico's restaurant, was called "Chowder de Lucines" and had ingredients of pork, clams, potato (sliced to a seven sixteenths-inch size), onion, parsley, tomato, crackers garnished by thyme, salt and pepper. Others in the same family, totally different from the New England clam chowder, are: "Fulton Market style", introduced in 1904 and made from clams, tomatoes, allspice, cloves, red pepper, and Worcester sauce; a "Vegetable Clam Chowder" introduced in 1929 and made of clams, chopped onions, diced carrots, stewed tomatoes, and thyme; "Coney Island Clam Chowder"; "New York Clam Chowder"; and "Manhattan Clam Chowder", a late entry after 1930. Chowder can be a comfort food,

Bermuda fish

thumb|[[Bermuda fish chowder]]

Considered a national dish of Bermuda, New Jersey clam chowder; Delaware clam chowder; Hatteras clam chowder; and Minorcan clam chowder. In Connecticut clam chowder, milk is used instead of cream. New England clam chowder is made in a diverse variety of styles.

Clam chowder may be prepared with fresh, steamed or canned clams.

In the late 1800s clam chowder was introduced in New Zealand as an "American" dish. A variant of New Zealand clam chowder is "pipi chowder", also known as "pipi soup" made with New Zealand surf clams. "Pipi" comes from the indigenous Maori name for the shellfish. Although there are variations in ingredients, all New Zealand seafood chowders are made in the style of New England chowders always with milk or cream.

File:Clam juice being used in preparation of clam chowder.jpg|Bottled clam juice being used in preparation of clam chowder

File:Quail 07 bg 041506.jpg|New England clam chowder

File:Manhattan Clam Chowder 1.jpg|Manhattan clam chowder

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Corn

Corn chowder is similar in consistency to New England clam chowder, with corn being used instead of clams. Additional vegetables that may be used in its preparation include potatoes, celery and onion.

File:Fishchowder.jpg|A bowl of fish chowder, with tilapia, red potato, chopped dill, and other ingredients

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Smoked salmon

A popular dish in Pacific Northwest cuisine, smoked salmon chowder gets its red color from tomato paste and is prepared with celery, garlic, leeks, chives, potatoes and Alaskan smoked salmon. The best known smoked salmon chowders are made at Pike Place Market and by Ivar's Salmon House, both in Seattle, Washington.

Southern Illinois

Southern Illinois chowder, also referred to as "downtown chowder", is a thick stew or soup that is very different from the New England and Manhattan chowders. The main ingredients are beef, chicken, tomatoes, cabbage, lima beans, and green beans. Southern Illinois chowder is a hearty dish that has been described as being closer in style to burgoo and Brunswick stew than coastal chowders.

Other types

The White Castle restaurant serves a potato-and-bacon chowder.

Use of preserved clams

In North America, as people moved west, some homemade preparations of traditional chowder used canned or bottled clams when fresh clams were not available.

Commercial varieties

Mass-produced, canned varieties of chowder are manufactured and purveyed to consumers, such as Campbell's and Progresso New England Clam Chowder,

Bibliography

External links

A history of Chowder. Linda Stradley. What's Cooking America. 2004.