Grandma Ruth’s Clam Chowder

As a child, my family spent many summers with my mother’s family in Seattle.  Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Gus owned a cabin near the water on Camano Island north of Seattle.  Most of the family activities during the summer were spent salmon fishing, clam digging and trapping Dungeness crab.  Anything we brought to the kitchen, my grandmother would cook, but the rule was it had to be cleaned and prepared for cooking.  Over the years, Grandma Ruth developed her version of the classic New England clam chowder.  She never wrote down her recipe and none of the grandchildren ever recorded it while she was alive.  A few years ago while visiting family in Seattle; we put our heads together to recreate her recipe.  The following recipe is very close to what she made.

I think the secrete to her success with clam chowder is cooking all the parts separately and then folding them together at the very end.  In particular, she would boil the potatoes separately until they were slightly underdone and then add them to the chowder because, as she would say, “you can never trust a potato.”  If you like clam chowder, you will love this version.  Denise Craig Stafford

Ingredients:

3 ½ cups cooked potatoes cut into ½ inch cubes

¼ pound bacon chopped

1 teaspoon fresh Thyme

1 medium onion chopped fine

5 stalks of celery chopped fine

2 – 3 cups fresh chowder clams coarsely ground, about 2 dozen clams (leave some of the stomach of the clam to add flavor to the chowder) 

¼ cup butter

½ cup flour

6 cups whole milk

2 cups clam nectar (clam juices left behind when you steam clams)  If you don’t have clams to steam, then you can buy clam juice at the grocery store.

Salt as needed

¼ teaspoon pepper

1 Tablespoon fresh parsley chopped fine

Assembly:

Boil about 4 or 5 potatoes until they are slightly underdone.  Remove from heat, peel and cut into ½ inch cubes.  Set aside. 

Fry bacon bits slowly in a heavy bottomed saucepan.  Pour off excess bacon fat.  Add the Thyme, chopped onion and celery to the pan as bacon begins to turn brown.  Cook until onions and celery are just soft.  Add the ground clams and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes.  

In a large 4 to 6 quart sauce pan, add butter and melt over low heat.  Add flour.  Stir the flour in until it is thoroughly blended.  Heat on low heat for at least a full minute.  Remove the pan from the heat.

Slowly stir in 2 cups of milk and blend the flour mixture with the milk.  Continue pouring in the milk and the clam nectar.  Return the pan to low to medium heat.  Cook, stirring continually until it just boils.  Turn the heat down to low.

Add salt, parsley, black pepper, clam mixture and potatoes.  Cook on low for about 10 to 15 minutes.  Serve in heated bowls with a good, crusty bread and tossed salad.  Best if refrigerated overnight and served the next evening.   When reheating the chowder, do not let it come to a boil.     

How to Steam Crabs

Ingredients

1 beer
Vinegar
Water
2/3 cup Old Bay
Half a bushel of blue crabs

Instructions

1. Add 1/3 parts water, 1/3 parts beer and 1/3 parts vinegar to a pot. Use a pot with a basket so the crabs aren’t touching the water. Pour the Old Bay in.
2. Cull the crabs, separating the live crabs from the dead crabs. Put the live crabs in the pot, put the lid on and boil them for 25-30 minutes.
3. When you put the crabs on a plate, add more Old Bay seasoning to them.

Fried Oysters- Anytime Favorite

• 1 quart Bevans Oysters
• 2 cups Yellow Cornmeal
• Canola Oil
• Salt/Pepper to taste

Drain oysters.  Bread oysters with cornmeal.  Heat cooking oil in deep fryer or skillet.  Cook oysters in hot oil until golden brown and crispy.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Sauteed Oysters- Makes a Great Appetizer

• 1 quart Bevans Shucked Oysters
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• salt and pepper
• Ritz crackers or saltines, cocktail sauce

Melt butter in a large frying pan.  Add onion and oysters.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook until edges of the oysters curl.  Serve on Ritz crackers or saltines.

Oyster Stew- A New Version of an Old Standard

• 1 quart Bevans Shucked Oysters (with their liquor)
• 1 cup water
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped fine
• 2 cups whole milk
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt

Boil celery and onions in water for five minutes.  Add milk, butter and dry ingredients and heat but do not boil.  Add oysters and cook just until edges curl.

Oyster Stuffing- For Holiday Dining, Chesapeake Bay Style

• 1 pint Bevans Shucked Oysters
• 3/4 cup minced onions
• 1 1/2 cups chopped celery
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 9 cups softened bread cubes
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon crushed sage leaves
• 1 teaspoon thyme leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

In a large skillet, cook onion and celery in 2 tablespoons of butter until onions are tender.  Stir in about 1/3 of the bread cubes.  Turn into a deep bowl.  Add remaining ingredients and toss.  Bake in the turkey or in a separate, covered casserole dish. 

                                                                     -Recipe compliments of Bevans Oyster Company- Kinsale, Virginia