New England Clam Chowder

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg clams in the shell, scrubbed
• 150 g streaky bacon, diced
• 500 g floury potatoes, in 1.5 cm dice
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 celery sticks, finely diced
• 30 g plain flour
• 150 ml dry white wine
• 400 ml whole milk
• 150 ml double cream
• a few sprigs of thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• a handful of parsley

Method

1. Steam the clams open

   Cook the clams in a covered pan with the wine until they open, about 4 minutes. Discard any that stay shut.

   4 min

2. Keep the liquor, lose the grit

   Pick most of the clams out of their shells and strain the cooking liquor through muslin, leaving the last gritty spoonful behind. That liquor is the backbone of the chowder and it is also where all the sand is.

3. Render the bacon

   Fry the bacon until crisp, then lift half out for the top and leave the fat in the pan.

   8 min

4. Roux in the bacon fat

   Cook the onion and celery in the fat until soft, then stir in the flour and cook two minutes.

   10 min

5. Build and simmer

   Gradually add the strained clam liquor and the milk, then the potatoes, thyme and bay. Simmer until the potatoes are tender and starting to break at the edges — that starch is what makes it a chowder rather than a soup.

   20 min

6. Clams back at the end

   Stir in the cream and the clams and warm through for two minutes only. Simmered, clams turn to rubber. Season carefully — the liquor and bacon are both salty — and top with the reserved bacon and parsley.

   2 min