CLAM CHOWDER thread -- New England or Manhattan ?

[HardyGirl]

New England, Baby! I had it for lunch yesterday!

[grayhank]

Well since I am originally from Rhode Island - I have to go with New England. Incidentally there are different types of New England Chowders. Rhode Island style is more brothy milk based, not like the regular NE type but it's not the red based Manhattan style either. Throw in some Clam Cakes and we're good!!!!

Rhode Island Style Recipe:

Ingredients
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
2 Tablespoons melted butter
8 ounces RI Quahogs, chopped (liquid reserved)
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup clam juice
1 cup peeled and coarsely chopped potatoes
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 cup Half & Half or heavy cream
Dash thyme
Dash salt
Dash white pepper
In a 3-quart saucepan, saute onion and celery in 2 Tablespoons butter until transparent. Add liquid from clams, clam juice, chicken broth and potatoes. Simmer until potatoes are tender.

In a separate pan, add 1/4 cup butter. Stir in flour mixture. Mix until smooth. Do not brown. Gently stir flour mixture into soup. Add clams, milk and half & half or cream. Stir gently until thickened. Add seasonings. Stir and enjoy!

From Wikipedia:

Rhode Island, like the rest of New England, has a long tradition of clam chowder. While the white "New England" variety is popular and the red "Manhattan" variety is not uncommon, Rhode Island makes a clear chowder, known as "Rhode Island Clam Chowder." It is very possible that the first chowders cooked were the RI version. Fishermen used to use clams as bait and towards the end of a trip would cook the clams with water, potatoes, onion, and salt pork. The older potatoes would create a starchier broth, so that the chowder was milk free, but still thick and creamy. Ironically, Manhattan chowder is also a Rhode Island creation - Portuguese immigrants who loved chowder but were short on cream substituted something that they had a lot of - tomatoes - to create red chowder.

Perhaps the most unusual culinary tradition in Rhode Island is the "clam cake." The clam cake is a deep fried ball of buttery dough with chopped bits of clam inside. They are sold by the half-dozen or dozen in most seafood restaurants around the state. The quintessential summer meal in Rhode Island is "clam cakes and chowder."

[The Bat]

Well...I'm from Maine...so New England! My favorite Ski Lodge makes it in a Bread Bowl, and it soaks in...so You can eat the Bowl afterwards. They also throw in a little Shrimp...it's EXCELLENT!

[huedell]

I'm in the minority I guess..the NE is too rich for my blood.

I'd still venture to say that the "NE" is the "real" chowder prep
and that the "red" kind was an afterthought variation???? (I'm not chowder educated)

Still, I prefer the red.

[cjefferys]

We don't call it chowder around here unless it is milk/cream based....otherwise it's soup.

That sounds about right to me as well. What makes the Manhattan variety "chowder"? Just because it has clams in it? That doesn't seem to make much sense to me.