Clam Chowder

Mom’s clam chowder, ladle at the ready

Mom’s chowder, transcribed straight from the tape — the recipe below is the transcript. Serves 12 to 14 people.

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Bacon	3 Strips
Onion	1 Medium, Diced
Flour	3 Tablespoons
Light Cream	2 Quarts (1.9 L)
Potatoes	Peeled, Bite-Sized Pieces¹
Canned Chopped Clams	However Many Cans Mom Told You²
Salt	To Taste
Black Pepper	To Taste
Butter	1/4 Cup (57 g), Optional³

In a large pot over medium-low heat, cook the bacon to render the fat, then take the bacon out.
Sauté the onion in the bacon fat until translucent.
Now you are ready for the roux: whisk the flour into the grease until it forms a thick paste. If it’s too thick, loosen it with a little juice from the clams.
Slowly pour in the light cream while whisking, and let it warm up.
While that’s warming, peel the potatoes and chop them into small bite-sized pieces, then add them to the pot.
Cook on low — don’t let it boil at all, or it’ll stick and curdle — until the potatoes are just about where you want them. Test them. It’ll thicken as it cooks.
Drain the clams, saving the juice in a bowl. If the chowder gets too thick, thin it out with the reserved clam juice.
Stir in the clams and warm through.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

That’s the whole recipe? “Yeah.”

You don’t want them too big, you don’t want them too small. You just eyeball it. ↩
The tape says “however many cans of clams I told you to put in” — the exact count stays between Mom and the cook. ↩
Mom’s verdict: “I don’t typically do this… so forget that.” Kept on the record over her objection. ↩