Seafood Chowder

I'm a marine biologist and this is an old wive's tale. Clams (and mussels, and oysters) spend their lives with their shells open, breathing and feeding. They have a springy elastic hinge that keeps the valves open. They have to force the shells closed with their muscles. If a clam is dead, the shells will spring open. Sometimes in cooking, the hinge and muscles get damaged, so a cooked clam stays shut. If that's the case, just open it and check its cooked by smell and texture.

And what about the dulse butter that got me to this recipe? and where on this side of the Atlantic and you get pulse?

Before I comment on the recipe I have to ask...is this a health care site or a cooking site? Be safe - tossing 1 or 2 unopened clams won't break the bank. Anyway, if you don't eat bacon, pork or meats but want the umami that the smokieness of the bacon imparts, add a smoked trout, or good deli smoked white fish to your pot when you add your cream. I find this makes for a smoother smokey back-flavor than bacon actually does...but I like them both.

Woot woot to cooking with seaweed. I think you could also add the dulse to the water you use to cook the clams. I use kombu, sake, and water when I cook clams, and the result is consommé that is outrageous with umami.

Dulse is a seaweed that grows in the north Atlantic (and apparently north Pacific). In Atlantic Canada and Maine, dried dulse is a snack It is dried in its leaf form and is a purplish-reddish colour. Dulse is readily available online. If you don't live on the east coast, Amazon has both dried dulse and dulse flakes. Dulse butter is simply a compound butter - butter with dulse blended into it. Look at the ratio of butter to tbsp of snipped dulse in the recipe mentioned in the column.

Used canned baby clams and the juice for this soup, tasted great!!

After reading the story associated with this recipe, I was interested in trying dulse butter on veggies or poultry because of a shellfish allergy. However in researching dulse flakes, most sellers add a warning that dulse may cause a serious reaction in people allergic to fish or shellfish. Good to know.

I saw this recipe in the print NYT Magazine. The flavors it suggested were excellent..and I made a variation of it..keeping in mind that it was dinner for only two., one of whom, my husband, is terminally ill. Not going to eat a lot. He LOVES clam chowder and I wanted to make this for him. Canned clams had to suffice; no other seafood. The other BIG item: I used Morningstar Veggie Bacon instead of pork; we do not eat pork. No dulce flakes. All veggies as listed. Lots of butter. Delicious!

Bivalves (clams, cockles, scallops, mussels, etc.) should not be eaten if the shells do not open during cooking for health reasons, per the Food and Drug Administration and state governments' departments of environmental services. This has been standard advice for as long as I can remember (I'm 65). Cooking adequately will destroy viruses and bacteria but not toxins. Just search for "shellfish safety" or "cooking shellfish safely."

If using fresh, wild Quahogs... feed the girls. A gallon of very salty water per 12 clams and 1/4 cup of cornmeal, for 48 hours, changing water every 12 hours will result in plump, sweet and grit free clams. Also, all soups/chowders/gumbos are about the stock. Don't be lazy... use home-made stock... not water.

In Rhode Island they make what they call a clear chowder. I have made one similar to this for years. If I were going to omit the dairy in this recipie, I would add a squeeze to taste of fresh lemon to brighten it up after all the seafood was added and then serve.

I am sorry, I can only imagine how hard this time must be for you and your husband. May love shine through.

Clams which fail to open after 10-15 minutes cooking are not "perfectly good". The issue is food safety. There are various possible reasons for failure to open, all of which indicate a serious health risk if eaten. Every credible authority on shellfish preparation recommends discarding. If you are (1) buying from a reputable source, (2) storing properly, (3) cooking promptly, you will not have many discards. Don't let your parsimony land you and your guests in the ER.

Well worth the prep time and definitely better the next day. I ordered my dulse flakes on Amazon. One note: quahogs, top necks, and cherrystones are NOT the same for this recipe’s purpose. Quahogs are very large (2-3 per lb), while cherrystones are much smaller (6-10 per lb). I used 36 cherrystones, which yielded about 1/2c meat after steaming. 36 quahogs would equal over 12 lbs of clams!

Many grocery stores have an Ethnic/Asian section and carry a selection of dried seaweed including kombu, wakame, arame and dulse. Eden Foods is a typical brand. You can also look for a local Asian grocery store or order online via Amazon. A co-worker buys dulse flakes in a shaker sold at Walmart (it's the Eden brand). I don't ever shop there and find mine at Wegmans or Whole Foods.