Mom's Seafood Chowder

Mom's Seafood Chowder

Recipe by Dee Herrin
Photos by Ashley Herrin

Making a deliciously-balanced seafood chowder is a work of art. It takes practice, refinement and years of taste-testing. This recipe is a family favorite, and has been perfected throughout the years with a lot of “dashes of this” and “a pinch of that.” From my mother’s cookbook to yours... enjoy!
 

Ingredients

8 small red potatoes, cubed
1 large white onion, chopped
4 cans of evaporated milk
1⁄4 cup salt pork, diced
4 tbsp. butter
Salt & pepper to taste
1 lb. shrimp, raw is ideal
1 lb. steamed clams, shucked
1 lobster, cooked & shucked
1 lb. Bay scallops, raw
1 lb. Haddock, raw, cut into large chunks
3–4 bottles of clam juice
(Alternatively, you can reserve & freeze the broth when steaming clams. This is ideally used at a later date for chowders.)

Method

Rinse and clean 8 small red potatoes. Cut into cubes and boil in water until partially cooked. Drain half of the water, reserving the rest. Pour the remaining water and potatoes into a large pot and set to low heat. This begins the base of your seafood chowder. Add 4 cans of evaporated milk to pot. Stir.

Chop 1 large white onion and set aside. Dice 1⁄4 cup salt pork. Combine the onion and salt pork in a skillet and sauté over medium–high heat with butter. Add to the pot.

Add clams, scallops, lobster, shrimp and haddock to the pot. Add bottles of clam juice or any clam stock you may have saved. Stir evenly to coat. Salt and pepper to taste.  Allow to simmer on low heat for a few hours or until cooked through. Do not boil.

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Please note... as this family recipe has been perfected through the years and committed to memory as opposed to paper, these measurements are not exact. Please feel free to add as much, or as little, of the above to your recipe. If you prefer thinner chowders, do so by adding additional milk or clam juice. A thicker chowder can be created by following any method of your preference.