Recipe: Lance’s Clam Chowder

One of my favourite pick-me-ups is a big hearty bowl of warm, filling soup. It speaks of comfort and reassurance, each spoonful as nourishing as a sympathetic personal Agony Aunt.

My friend, Lance, makes that kind of wholesome soup. His clam chowder never fails to lift my spirits, even long after he stopped making them to make way for other types of soup. I’ve replicated his clam chowder recipe many times, and blogged about it a few years ago.

I’ve learned a few things since then, and feel a need to refresh the recipe post. Here you go, with the full printable recipe at the bottom of this post.

Recipe Lance Clam Chowder - with mussels
Lance’s creamy clam chowder, mussels optional

Regular chowder is ridiculously easy to make. There’s no rocket science involved – just assemble the ingredients, throw them into a pot, and wait.

Surely there must be a catch! Well, yes. There are clam chowder recipes where they call for fresh clams. This recipe is not one of them. Here, we use canned clams, separate juice from clams and put aside, please. I normally use 2 cans, but feel free to add an extra one or two cans for a deeper, richer flavour (and get more clams in each spoonful!).

Here’s the tricky part – where I’m at, it may not be easy to get inexpensive canned clams. We normally get the Rex brand (pictured below) but it’s increasingly difficult to find them. There are imported canned clams, but they cost an arm and a leg, not prices I’d be willing to pay. So, good luck finding your clams, OR you could use fresh ones. Just Google and wield your cooking creativity.

Since this is a New England-style, we need milk and cream. We use evaporated milk – in Malay, it’s susu sejat (super expensive) or susu sejat penuh krim (reconstituted, less expensive). For milk, use either heavy, or double, or thickened cream. Use regular cooking cream only if you can’t get heavy cream.

This recipe calls for a whole bottle of (cheap) dry white wine, e.g. Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay. Don’t want wine in your soup, even though the alcohol would have fizzled out before it reaches your bowl? Well then, just replace with more stock or water.

For stock, I’ve tried and tested regular vs salt reduced; the latter always wins. I’ve also tried cube stock, but still I prefer Campbell’s salt reduced beef stock.

What about bacon? Bacon, as unhealthy as it is, is possibly one of my favourite things in the world. You would probably have guessed by now that I have many favourite things, but really, bacon ranks quite high on my list. However if you do not share my love for bacon, you can substitute (pork) bacon with beef bacon or turkey ham. Think cured, think salt.

Fresh or dried herbs? I’ve used both in different versions. All good to me!

Recipe Lance Clam Chowder - ingredients
Not an inexpensive clam chowder recipe

Wash, chop, separate, sort your ingredients. Then it’s time to assemble and cook! Please Google for the right amount of substitution.

Recipe Lance Clam Chowder - aromatics

Start off with heating up oil in a big pot. Cook onions, celery and bacon for a few minutes.

Add clam juice, evaporated milk, cream and potatoes. Let it boil for a minute or two.

Recipe Lance Clam Chowder - potatoes

Add thyme, bay leaves, and wine. Boil for a couple of minutes.

Recipe Lance Clam Chowder - wine and thyme

Add beef stock, boil for 30 minutes.

Then simmer for another 30 minutes.

Recipe Lance Clam Chowder - boiling soup

Use a hand blender or food processor to blend the chowder till smooth. Don’t have a blender? Don’t bother. For real, don’t waste your money and time with this recipe if you ain’t got a blender.

Once blended, put the pot back on the stove/heat. Add clam meat and dill, and mussels if you have them. Simmer for a few minutes.

Recipe Lance Clam Chowder with bread

Serve with black pepper, warm bread and a smile on your face.

Recipe Lance and his creamy clam chowder

That’s the recipe namesake enjoying his own chowder. Thanks for sharing the goodness, Lance!

Print Recipe
Lance's Clam Chowder
A rich, delicious clam chowder recipe that uses only stock and wine for broth.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 1 hour
Servings
6
Ingredients
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 1 hour
Servings
6
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Heat olive oil in a big pot. Add onions + celery + bacon to cook for a few minutes.
  2. Add clam juice + evaporated milk + cream + potatoes. Let it boil for a minute or two.
  3. Add thyme + bay leaves + wine. Boil for a couple of minutes.
  4. Add beef stock. Boil for 30 minutes then simmer for another 30 minutes.
  5. Use a hand blender or food processor to blend the chowder till smooth.
  6. Put the pot back on the stove. Add clam meat and dill, and mussels (optional). Simmer for a few minutes.
  7. Serve with cracked black pepper.