How To Cook Fresh Clams For Chowder
To cook fresh clams for chowder, first, clean the clams by scrubbing them with a brush. Now, fill a pot with cold water, add salt to it and bring it to a boil before adding the clams. Simmer the clam shells for about three minutes or until they open. Be careful not to overcook them or they will become tough and rubbery.
Homemade Clam Chowder may sound intimidating, but you would be surprised how fast and easy it is to make in a single pan at home. You will miss out on some of the experience of working with fresh clams, but you will still get an extremely delicious chowder. The flavours in clam chowder need to be subtle and gentle, with porky sweetness complimenting a slight sourness from the clams, accentuated by bits of celery and onions that are almost submerged in the broth, disappearing entirely in the background.
Between the meat and the liquid from a big pot, we are going to get plenty of this nice clam flavor in this tasty clam chowder. Hopefully, all of the clams will get some fresh water in, and will throw up all of the grits, so they will not get into your chowder. Do not strain it through the strainer, as the sand will settle at the bottom, and you will end up dumping the sand right back on top of the living clams. Put the colander on top of the bowl, then put open clams into the colander while removing open clams from a big sauce pan.
Stir the clams around a bit, looking for those that opened, these should be removed immediately. When you bring home live clams, remove them from their plastic bags immediately, then soak in a cold dish for at least 30 minutes. Soak the soft-shelled clams for several minutes, stir them lightly once or twice, strain out the water, then repeat this several times more until no grit remains. Gently move Soft-shell clams around in the water and allow to soak for a few minutes, then remove and put them into another cold pot of water.
After 4 minutes, take off the lid and stir soft-shelled clams rapidly with a wooden spoon, trying to bring some clams up from the bottom into the top, to ensure that they are cooked evenly – be gentle, though, as the clams are quite fragile and can break apart easily. I am making chowder, so I needed to bring the steamed clams up until the shells opened up so that I could pull out the clams. When you are ready to make the chowder, you first have to cook the clams, by scalding them in some water. You do not want to cook the clams, just heat them up, then add them in at the end of cooking.
| Ingredients | Steps |
| Milk | Soak them in milk and add them to the cream |
| Cream | Merely cook the clams until they are thoroughly warm |
Next, throw the wine, garlic, and thyme into a pot, cover, and simmer your freshly-steamed clams until open. Add in the wine, garlic, and thyme, and cover, and simmer on the high setting for 3 to 5 minutes, or until clams open.
When the fresh clams are cooked enough for you to handle, scoop the meat from the insides out and put in a different little bowl. Seafood Seasoning Directions Rinse clams in cold water, and then put clams into a pan with cold water. Simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes, or until potatoes are very soft, then stir in heavy cream, followed by clams.
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For a soup, we use a roux to thicken a soup, then stir in 1 cup heavy cream at the end of the cook time. Once you have made the roux, stir in creamed sherry then add the broth, clams, and herbs into the chowder. Next, add the cream sherry, the clams, the clam broth, chicken broth, and bay leaves, and bring to the boil or until it is thick.
I do my steaming by boiling several inches of water to full simmer in a big stock pot with the steamer basket at the bottom. By adding some liquid to the pot after sweating out my aromatics and adding a few clams, I was able to steam these suckers for just a few minutes.
Steaming fresh clams is actually pretty easy, and it makes their own clam juice, so you are going to be using that clam broth rather than bottled clam juice listed in the ingredients. Last but not least, using it brings so much more flavour to it by using both canned clams and the juice, not to mention a ton more clams, which is not something you get when ordering it out. Sliced Bacon works well in chowder, but I found that the smokey bacon flavor could overwhelm a little bit with the clams. I actually left New England Clam Chowder simmering on very low heat completely by accident once the heavy cream was added, and think that helped thicken up the soup a bit, and integrated canned clams a bit better (especially if using canned).
If using fresh clams, I would omit the chicken stock, then just throw some in for flavor if you still think there is something missing. Almost every bite has some sort of clam, which is great, because what you get in restaurants is hardly any clams or vegetables, just lots of cream. This recipe is an exception, maybe because this recipe is kind of like a cross between a soup and a bowl of soft-shelled steaming clams.
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Most of the base recipes for clam chowder call for rendering some sort of pork meat (bacon or salted pork, typically), sauteing onions and celery in rendered fat, stirring in some flour, then adding milk, potatoes, chopped meat, and sometimes canned clam juice. Typically, the salted pork or bacon is rendered for its fat first, but I did not want any porky flavors interfering with the sweetness and briny flavors of the broth or clams.
This Creamy Clam Chowder Recipe is up there with the best Clam Chowders I have tried, and with just 1 cup of cream in the whole pot, this Creamy Clam Chowder Recipe is not quite so guilty, but it certainly tastes indulgent (win!).
How do you tenderize clams for chowder?
To get delicate clams when cooking white clam chowder, soak them in milk or cream (depending on the recipe’s instructions) and add them to the cream. Do not boil; merely cook the clams until they are thoroughly warm. You can boil and clean more giant clam shells to use as interesting serving dishes.
How do you boil fresh clams for chowder?
Pour 1/2 cup of water, or other cooking liquid, into a pot, line the bottom of the pot with a nest of seaweed, and boil. Afterward, carefully place the clams in the pot and cover them tightly with a lid. Cook the clams for 7 minutes; if most are open, lift them out on a plate and serve.
Do you boil or steam clams for chowder?
For safe food consumption, it is recommended that you steam your clams in their shells instead of boiling them for at least four to nine minutes after the water starts boiling. It would be best to discard any clams that do not open up during cooking.