New England Chowder
This New England chowder is a fish soup built on salt pork fat, onions and a flour-thickened broth, with no milk or potatoes in sight. The recipe comes from the 1881 Household Cyclopedia, so it shows how chowder was made in the nineteenth century. Layering the fish, onion and crisp pork in the pot is the key step, and softened pilot bread stirred in at the end gives the soup its body.
Instructions
Fry the strips of salt pork in a pot until most of the fat has melted out of them. Lift the pork out and set it aside, leaving the fat in the pot.
Put a layer of fish in the pot, then a layer of sliced onions, then some of the pork. Repeat the layers until all the fish is used.
Stir some flour into enough water to fill the pot, then pour it over the layers. The flour will thicken the broth as it cooks.
Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
Bring the pot to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.
Soak the crackers in water until they are slightly softened but still hold their shape. Add them to the chowder 5 minutes before serving.
Serve the chowder from a tureen.
Make it personal.
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