Crock Pot New England Style Seafood Chowder
The defining characteristics of a chowder, as opposed to soup, are that it has a creamy base, chunky ingredients and is slowly cooked.
Origins of this dish, as well as what it's called, are obscure, but food historians believe it probably originated as a shipboard meal and arrived with immigrants from England and France during 18th Century colonization. It was not unfamiliar in England and appears in texts dating to 1762.
In the US, seafood chowder, which could consist of clams, haddock, prawns or any combination thereof, clearly came from New England and branched off into two varieties, today known as Manhattan Chowder, which is in a tomato based broth, and New England Chowder, which is cream based. Both meet the culinary conditions of a Chowder, including chunky ingredients that include potatoes.
My Number One Fan gets all the credit for surfacing a number of recipes before finally deciding on an amalgamation of several, using one as a basic ingredient guide from a website called Four Generations One Roof. But even so, the printout is littered with scratch-outs and hand-written notes, so much so, that the original recipe is mostly obscured. And that's a good thing, too, because the author of that recipe used both corn and potato, and thickened the chowder with corn starch. Corn chowder is another chowder all its own and I considered it convoluted and redundant to add it to a recipe that doesn’t traditionally carry it. Additionally, flour is the only proper thickening agent for such a recipe as this. Corn starch has its place, but never with milk or cream.
Finally, a word about the lump crab meat. Unless you can buy fresh, you’ll have to rely on crab meat which has been processed, pasteurized and packaged. I much prefer the type of crab meat that stays refrigerated and comes in see-through containers, generally sold in the meat and seafood section of your neighborhood grocer. A popular one is Phillip’s Premium Lump Crab, and it is superior to the crab meat you buy in a tin can that has been sitting at room temperature on a grocery store shelf. Regardless, look for the word "lump" on the label, which is pricier but higher in quality. Steer away from any canned crab meat that says "back-fin" or "claw meat" on the label. While less expensive, they tend to have the strongest crabby flavor and are stringier in texture. In any case, you should rinse your canned crab meat in cold water and let it drain, or dry it in paper towels to remove any preservatives before adding to this recipe.
Crock Pot New England Style Seafood Chowder
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
- 2 cups chicken stock (like, Kitchen Basics or Swanson)
- 1/2 stick butter, melted in the microwave
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 3 6.5-oz cans chopped clams, drained (like, StarKist or Bumble Bee)
- 8 oz. jumbo lump crab, rinsed and drained
- 6 oz. bay shrimp, fresh or thawed from frozen
- 8 oz. bottle clam juice (like, Crown Prince Natural)
- 4 large russet potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1/2 cup carrots, shredded or finely diced
- 1/2 cup celery, finely diced
- 1 cup green onions
- 8 slices microwave bacon, cooked and crumbled (like, Hormel Black Label Microwave Ready)
- 1 tsp garlic, finely minced
- 1 tbsp Old Bay Seasoning
- 1 tsp Tabasco Sauce
- 1/2 tbsp ground thyme
- 1 whole bay leaf
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour dissolved in 6 oz very hot tap water (a slurry)
- 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
- 12-15 grinds freshly cracked black pepper
- non-stick cooking spray (like, Pam)
- crumbled bacon and chopped green onions for garnish
Instructions
- Pre-heat the crock pot, by filling it with hot tap water, put the lid on, and set the unit on high heat for 30 minutes to an hour. Drain when ready to use.
- Put all liquid ingredients in a pre-heated crock pot treated with non-stick cooking spray and stir.
- Put everything else except the slurry in the crock pot and stir everything together well.
- Cover, and set the control on high heat for 4 hours.
- Using a small whisk, mix the flour together with 6 ounces of very hot tap water and stir this slurry into the chowder. Return the lid and bring the soup back to a simmer, then set the control on low for another 2 hours.
- Serve in large soup mugs topped with additional crumbled bacon and chopped green onion.
