To make clam chowder from scratch, steam fresh clams in a covered pot until they open, strain and keep the broth, and chop the meat. Render diced salt pork or bacon, soften onion in the fat, add diced potatoes and the clam broth, and simmer until the potatoes are tender. Stir in the chopped clams and milk or cream at the end, and heat the pot gently without letting it boil. That is New England clam chowder, the creamy one, and it takes about an hour and a half.

Most of the work is on the cutting board. The cooking itself is a single pot.

Three chowders, one clam

New England clam chowder is the milk- or cream-based version, usually made with clams, potatoes, salt pork, onion, milk and butter, sometimes thickened with a little flour. Manhattan clam chowder has a red, tomato-based broth with no milk or cream. Rhode Island clam chowder is made with clear broth and no milk, butter or tomatoes.

This recipe is the New England style. The prep, the clam broth and the knife work are the same for all three, so once you can make one, the others are a change of liquid.

Choosing clams

Hard clams are sold by size. From small to large, they run countnecks, littlenecks, topnecks, cherrystones, and the largest, sold as quahogs or chowder clams.

The big ones are the chowder clams for a reason. Quahogs and cherrystones have the toughest meat, which is why they go into chowder, while the smaller littlenecks and topnecks are the ones served raw. Chopped small and added at the end, the larger clams turn tender and give the broth a deep flavor.

When buying live clams, look for the tag on the sack or container. The FDA notes that these tags carry the processor’s certification number, a sign that the shellfish were harvested and processed under national shellfish safety controls. Throw away any clam with a cracked or broken shell. Live clams close when the shell is tapped, and the FDA’s advice is plain: if one does not close, do not use it.

If fresh clams are not available, canned chopped clams and bottled clam juice make a reasonable weeknight version. Skip the steaming step and use the juice as your broth.

What you need

For about six servings:

  • About 4 pounds of live chowder clams or cherrystones, scrubbed
  • 1 cup of water
  • 4 ounces of salt pork or thick-cut bacon
  • 2 tablespoons of butter
  • 1 large yellow onion
  • 2 ribs of celery (optional)
  • 1½ pounds of waxy potatoes, such as Yukon Gold
  • 2 tablespoons of flour (optional, for a thicker chowder)
  • 2 bay leaves and a few sprigs of fresh thyme
  • 2 cups of whole milk and 1 cup of heavy cream
  • Black pepper, chopped parsley and oyster crackers to serve

Step one: steam the clams

Scrub the clams under cold running water to remove grit from the shells. Put them in a large pot with the cup of water, cover, and set it over high heat.

Check after about 5 minutes and lift out the clams as they open, so the early ones do not overcook while the stubborn ones finish. The FDA’s rule for cooking clams: the shells open during cooking, and any that do not open should be thrown out.

Pour the cooking liquid through a sieve lined with a paper towel or coffee filter into a bowl. Clams carry sand, and this catches it. You should have a few cups of briny broth, the backbone of the chowder.

Step two: the board work

This is where the knife does most of the job, so set up the board before the pot goes back on the stove.

Clams. Pull the meat from the shells and chop it into pieces about the size of a pea or a little larger. Big chowder clams can be chewy, and small pieces stay tender.

Salt pork. Cut it into small dice, about a quarter inch, so it renders evenly and crisps.

Onion and celery. Medium dice, about half an inch. Small, medium and large dice explains the sizes.

Potatoes. Peel them if you like and cut them into even half-inch cubes. Even matters more than size here: uneven potatoes leave some pieces raw while others fall apart into the broth.

The WONAMU. bamboo cutting board is 12 by 9 inches, enough to keep each pile separate as you work, and its perimeter juice groove holds the clam liquor that runs off while you chop. Tip that liquid into the broth bowl; it belongs in the pot.

Step three: build the chowder

  1. Render the pork. Cook the diced salt pork in a heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium-low heat until the fat runs and the pieces are golden. Lift out the crisp bits and keep them for the top.
  2. Soften the vegetables. Add the butter, onion and celery to the fat. Cook gently until soft and translucent, without browning.
  3. Thicken, if you like. Stir in the flour and cook it for a minute.
  4. Simmer the potatoes. Add the potatoes, the strained clam broth, the bay leaves and thyme. Add water if needed to barely cover the potatoes. Simmer until a cube breaks when pressed against the side of the pot, about 15 minutes.
  5. Finish gently. Lower the heat, add the chopped clams, milk and cream, and warm the chowder through without boiling. Dairy that boils hard can curdle, and clams cooked twice turn rubbery.

Taste before you salt. Clam broth and salt pork are both salty, and many pots need only pepper.

Serving and storing

Serve the chowder in warm bowls, topped with the crisp pork, parsley and black pepper, with oyster crackers on the side. Chowder was once thickened with crushed hardtack or crackers, and crackers crumbled over the top are a nod to that.

Leftover chowder keeps well. Following CDC guidance, refrigerate it within 2 hours in a refrigerator at 40°F or below, and when you reheat it, warm it gently and bring it to 165°F, checked with a food thermometer.

For another soup that starts on the board, chicken noodle soup from scratch follows the same rhythm of prep first, pot second. And if you are buying shellfish for a crowd, how to shuck oysters covers the other half of a raw bar.

The short version

Steam scrubbed clams until they open, discard any that stay shut, strain the broth through a paper towel and chop the meat. Render diced salt pork, soften onion in the fat, add half-inch potato cubes and the clam broth, and simmer until tender. Add the clams, milk and cream, heat gently without boiling, and serve with oyster crackers.

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WONAMU. makes a bamboo cutting board designed for daily prep, 12 × 9 inches, bamboo, with a perimeter juice groove. Available on Amazon.

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