Crab Chowder Recipe

the sea air, crisp apples, the bright, piquant leaves - there are few things that say autumn in New England like the scents that seem to buffet the meaning across. Among the wonderful surprises for the senses are popular dishes from appetizer to dessert you will not find - or at least did not find quite the same way - everywhere in the country. If you doubt it, there is always an ad that was popular last fall - after the Red Sox won the World Series. In this paper, a man explained, "Son, when you live in New England there are three fundamental truths ... clam chowder is white ..."

And the other two truths do not matter. We New Englanders take our clam chowder seriously. Up and down the coast of New England throughout the fall, nearly every town and township has its Festival of the chowder. During the six states, restaurants cook pots of chowder their best recipes and compete to be named Best clam chowder. The ancestor of all the holidays of New England chowder was held in Newport, Rhode Island, where dozens of area restaurants compete for the title of "America's Best clam chowder.

It is a simple dish, but like chili in Texas and Maryland crab cakes, each cook has his own special touch on the recipe. There are the basics: clams, potatoes and milk. From there, it's all head for himself. Some swear that the clam chowder without pork is salty soup. Others argue that the clam chowder can be made without the onion. Heads nearly come to blows about whether the cream should never be used and why a roux of butter and flour is a better basis for clam liquor. secret recipes abound - and everyone has their favorites.

My personal favorite is the thick, creamy variety of eating it-with-fork-clam chowder served at sea and legal Au Bon Pain in Boston. Rich and loaded with chunks of potato, bits of meat, clams, onions, garlic, salt pork, but a meal rather than an opener for one. Served with a slab of homemade bread spread with butter, it is guaranteed to increase your cholesterol level and please your palate for hours.

Although many leaders cry sacrilege, others believe that the fresh corn adds the perfect touch of sweetness to the broth rich and crunchy bits of piquant flesh. Corn is not the only bone of contention when it comes to this regional specialty. Purists insist that the only ingredients are real clam chowder clams, water, milk, onions, potatoes and butter. They argue that the chowder should be made with mussels or littlenecks (if you're in Maine, it is littlenecks - Connecticut, mussels. Everywhere else - it varies), whether to add belly clams or just the neck, even though the clams should be steamed "virgin" or with garlic, wine or beer.

If you like your chowder thick or thin, with or without corn, flavored with bacon or bacon or anything else, there's one thing that all agree New England - clam chowder is white. We do not know what it is they are in Manhattan - but it's not clam chowder.