Fish Chowder
The best fish for chowder are haddock and striped bass, although any kind of fresh fish may be used. Cut in pieces over an inch thick and two inches square; place eight good-sized slices of salt pork in the bottom of an iron pot and fry till crisp; remove the pork, leaving the fat, chop fine, put in the pot a layer of fish, a layer of split crackers, and some of the chopped pork with black and red pepper and chopped onions, then another layer of fish, another of crackers and seasoning, and so on. Cover with water, and stew slowly till the fish is perfectly done; remove from the pot, put in dish in which you serve it and keep hot, thicken the gravy with rolled cracker or flour, boil it up once and pour over the chowder. Some add a little catsup, port wine and lemon juice to the gravy just before taking up, but I think it nicer without them. -Mrs. Woodworth, Springfield,
A milkless, layered chowder of the older New England type, built in a single pot and thickened with cracker crumbs at the end. The main adjustment a modern cook needs to make is to the timing: the fish is done long before the phrase "stew slowly" suggests.
- The hinge: cook the fish brieflyFirm white fish in inch-thick pieces is "perfectly done" in about 10 to 15 minutes at a bare simmer. Anything longer and the layers collapse into shreds, which is the opposite of what the layering is for.
- Do not stirThe structure depends on the layers staying intact, so it is best not to stir the pot. Shake it gently if anything looks like catching, and lift the fish out with a broad slotted spoon or skimmer.
- The crackersThese are hard common crackers or ship's biscuit, split through the middle, not modern saltines. Saltines dissolve to paste; use split common crackers, oyster crackers, or thick unsalted water biscuits.
- Salt porkEight good-sized slices is perhaps 8 oz, though the original gives no weight. Unsmoked salt pork or fatback is correct; thick-cut bacon works but brings smoke the original does not have. The crisped bits are chopped and layered back in as seasoning.
- Red pepper"Red pepper" here means cayenne, used by the pinch, not paprika or chile flakes.
- FishHaddock and striped bass are both still available; cod, pollock, hake or any firm white fish will do. Avoid thin, delicate fillets such as sole, which will not survive the layering.
- "Cover with water"Add just enough to come level with the top layer, an inch or so above the fish at most. Too much and the finished gravy is thin and the crackers waterlogged; the fish and pork give off a good deal of liquid as they cook.
- ThickeningRolled cracker means crackers crushed to crumbs, stirred into the simmering broth and boiled up once. If using flour, slake it in cold water first or it will lump in the hot pot.
- YieldBuilt on about 3 lb of fish, this feeds six generously as a main course with bread.
Chowder in nineteenth-century American cookbooks is a fisherman's pot dish, layered rather than stirred, and the cracker is structural: hard biscuit was the ship's bread, and softening it in the broth was the point of the method long before it became a garnish. Milk and cream chowders became the New England standard later; this water-and-pork version, with pepper and onion between the layers, is the older shape of the dish, and the name is generally traced to the French chaudière, the cauldron a crew cooked in. Its appearance in a Southern-titled book under a contributor from Springfield is characteristic of The Dixie Cook-Book, which gathered signed contributions from housekeepers across the country rather than confining itself to regional cooking. Mrs. Woodworth's closing note, that catsup, port and lemon juice are commonly added but she prefers it without, preserves the argument as well as the recipe.