Ok, I've seen enough landlubber chowder (read 'Shoney's') to gag a horse, so
I thought I'd stir up the pot a bit with an alternative chowder. Not for
the squeamish, nor the inside the box crowd. Those who know will
understand.

Jack Schidt Sez..

1 White Onion, roughly diced
3 cloves garlic, roughly minced
2 frozen bratwurst, sliced into 'discs'
half a potato, rough dice
freshly cracked black pepper to taste
salt to taste
1 lb fresh chopped clams (ok, ok, I live close to RI)
enough lard to do the job
1 can of coconut milk (hehe...this you did not expect, eh?)


Ok, here goes.....I heat a pot, toss the lard in; it melts and does the
frying vehicle thang so I toss in the onions and turn down the heat to
medium and the onions get that browning thing going before they just
caramelize. The bratwurst should be frozen cuz it's easier to slice into
nice disc slices. Why bratwurst, you ask? Well I've got the lard and onion
thang going already....it's pork fat that makes a decent chowder, but why
stop there? I add the bratwurst and now I've got this pork fat-onion-pork
and veal with mace and marjoram thing going too. Hokay, these fresh chopped
clams come in a plastic tub; I drain them in a sieve and pick for shell
pieces (toldja they were fresh). This draining goes on as the pot is
sauteeing/simmering. I deglace the pot with the clam broth and then add the
potatoes, stirring it up. Another 10 minutes goes by and then I add the
<gasp> coconut milk. More about that later. Then I add some fresh cracked
pepper, a coupla pinches of salt (the brats already have some salt in em),
maybe a pinch of thyme and put a cover on the pot. It sits and simmers for
probably a half hour. Ok, I'm getting hungry now, so I add the clams into
the simmering pot. 5 minutes later I pull the pot off the stove and serve
( we don't want rubber clams, right?). Oh yeah, I diced a few scallions for
'garni'.

Anyway, there's another view on the chowder idea.

Jack Suppe

PS I know, the coconut milk. I wasn't going to drive to the store to pick
up that bovine juice so I made do. Besides I was curious.

PSS This is some tasty chowder; Shoney's be damned! It's 'thick' cuz every
spoonful is basically a spoonful of clams with a cube of potato on top and a
nice soupy 'gravy' to move it along.