“I love clam chowder. I am always on the look out for the best clam chowder recipe. I found this one from Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto in Berkeley, CA, a long cherished seafood restaurant in the Bay Area that has since closed.” – April Ferre
Clam Chowder
Ingredients
- 6 Slices Bacon Chopped
- 4 Tablespoons Butter Divided
- 1 Cup Flour
- 1 Onion Chopped
- 1/2 Cup Celery Diced
- 4 Cups Seafood Stock
- 4 7-Ounce Cans Chopped Clams
- 2 1/2 Cups Yukon Gold Potatoes Diced
- 1/2 Teaspoon Dried Thyme
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 1/4 Teaspoon Tabasco Sauce
- 1/8 Teaspoon Pepper
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Cup Heavy Cream
- 1 Cup Half & Half
Instructions
- Cook potatoes until tender. Set aside in large bowl.
- In Dutch oven over medium heat, fry bacon until crisp. Remove bacon from pan and set aside with potatoes.
- In the same pan, add 2 Tablespoons butter to bacon drippings. When butter has melted, make the roux by adding flour and cooking on low heat for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove roux from pot and set aside.
- Add the remaining butter to the pan and sauté onions and celery until softened. Remove to bowl with potatoes and bacon.
- Return roux to pot and add seafood stock and juice from clams. Raise the heat to high and cook, stirring frequently for 6 to 8 minutes until thickened.
- When thickened, add clams, potato mixture, seasonings, heavy cream and half and half. Simmer about 10 minutes. Serve with sourdough bread and butter.
- This recipe makes a relatively thin soup. If a thicker soup is desired, thicken with flour/water mixture.
2019 Recipe – April Ferre – Adapted from Spenger’s Clam Chowder recipe