A TALE OF TWO CHOWDERS

NEW ENGLAND HATTERAS

STYLED BY CHEF DAN LEWIS PHOTO BY ELIZABETH NEAL

AFTER THE FIRST FROST OF THE SEASON, there’s almost nothing that’ll take the chill off an evening like a large bowl of comfort food – and on the coast especially, that calls for clam chowder. But ask any islander for their favorite recipe, and you’ll likely get some near-endless variations on the same theme…plus a fair amount of debate about exactly which ingredients make it so indelibly delicious. Food historians believe that chowders were first introduced to North America by European settlers during the 1700s, and it should come as no surprise that the dairy-farming strongholds of the northeastern climes relatively quickly adapted a regional version known as New England clam chowder. Arguably one of the most widely known chowder styles, it tends to feature the staples most commonly associated with today’s classic clam chowders (clams, potatoes and a savory meat such as salt pork or bacon) in addition to a thickened dairy-based broth – whether that comes from adding milk, half-and-half or a heavy whipping cream. Setting tomato-based contenders aside, the chowder most closely associated with coastal Carolina is known as Hatteras clam chowder. This chowder’s clear-broth origins are said to derive from early Bankers’ tendency to make do with whatever was closest at hand as they infused bare-bones pots of potatoes, pork and any other readily available herbs with the natural juices of locally harvested clams. For aficionados of this variety, placing clams at the recipe’s forefront is what earns it the gold medal – and those who disagree might do well to re-read Herman Melville’s fawning description of clam chowder in the opening pages of Moby Dick…which includes a list of ingredients with nary a dairy base in sight.