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Daniel Webster's Chowder
(For a large fishing party) "Cod (pike, or other big fish) of 10 or 12 pounds well cleaned, leaving on the skin, cut into slices 11/2 pounds thick, preserving the head whole, 11/2 pounds clear fat salt pork cut into thin slices; do the same with 12 potatoes. Take the largest pot you have, try out the pork first, take out the pieces of pork, leaving in the dripping; add to that 3 times as much water, a layer of fish, to cover the bottom of the pot, next a layer of potatoes, then 2 tablespoons of salt, 1 teaspoon of pepper, then the pork, another layer of fish, and the remainder of the potatoes; fill the pot with water enough to cover the ingredients, put it over a good fire, let the chowder boil 25 minutes; when this is done, have a quart of boiling milk ready and 10 hard crackers split and dipped in cold water, add milk and crackers, let the whole boil 5 minutes; the chowder is then ready and will be first-rate if you have followed the directions. And onion is added if you like that flavor."
A camp-scale fish chowder built in layers in one big pot, meant to feed a fishing party rather than a family. The quantities are enormous by kitchen standards and the whole thing scales down cleanly by thirds or quarters.
- The hinge: layer, don't stirThe pot is built in strata — fish, potato, seasoning, pork, fish, potato — and left alone. Stirring breaks the fish into shreds and clouds the broth; lift portions out with a skimmer at the end instead.
- Fish thicknessThe instruction to cut slices "1½ pounds thick" is an error for inches. Steaks about 1½ inches thick off a 10–12 lb cod hold together through the boil; thin fillets will disintegrate.
- The headKeeping the head whole is deliberate. It contributes gelatin and flavour and can be left in the bottom of the pot, then discarded before serving. Ask a fishmonger for a whole gutted fish if you want it; many counters sell fillets only.
- Salt pork1½ lb of clear fat salt pork means unsmoked cured fatback, not bacon. "Try out" is to render it slowly until the fat runs and the scraps crisp. If you substitute bacon, cut the added salt.
- Water quantity"Three times as much water" as the rendered dripping is a small amount; the real liquid measure is the later instruction to add water enough to cover. Aim for the ingredients just submerged, no more, or the chowder ends up thin.
- TimingTwenty-five minutes at a boil suits thick steaks in a crowded pot over a fire. Cut to 15–18 minutes at a bare simmer for a domestic quantity, and stop as soon as the potatoes yield — the fish will be done well before them.
- Hard crackersThese are ship's biscuit or common crackers, dense and unsalted, dipped in cold water so they swell rather than dissolve. Unsalted saltines or oyster crackers stand in, but add them at the very end; they will not survive five minutes of boiling.
- MilkHeat the quart of milk separately before it goes in, as directed. Cold milk into a boiling salt-pork broth can curdle; even hot, keep it just under a boil once combined.
- YieldAs written this feeds roughly 20 to 25 people. A quarter batch — a 3 lb fish, 6 oz salt pork, 3 potatoes, a cup of milk — makes six generous bowls.