Soup Day, Part III

OK, I promised you the Clam Chowder recipe, so here it is.

First, I hate Manhattan-style chowder, can't eat tomatoes and don't want to, so if you're looking for a fishy tomato soup this ain't it. All right-thinking people know that the only correct way to make clam chooowdah is New England cream style.

Second, chowder is not a soup, it's not a stew, it's chowder. Chowder is a thickened creamy broth, filled with finely chopped goodness. It's important. So, if you're looking for a bowl of thin fishy smelling dishwater with one big hunk of potato and a handful of sand, like they serve to the tourists in Freeport, Maine outside the LL Bean, this ain't it either.

Third, I like clam chowder, I like clams, I like seafood. I hate chowder that smells like a brackish tidal pool full of dead crustaceans. I want my clam chowder to taste and smell like food that people eat, not seagulls. So, if you're looking for chowder that reeks of rotting seafood like something slugs choke down at a Navy Chief's Initiation, again this ain't it.

You've been warned.

Now, like Nathan and his Kreplach, I usually just throw this together. I once, long ago, was a professionally trained chef, I've been making this recipe for a long time, and I rarely use any kind of measuring device when making soup, stew, or chowders. I also tend to vary the process depending how motivated I'm feeling and what ingredients I have access to - i.e. you have to be highly motivated to shuck a half bushel of New England Cherrystone Steamers, so usually I just settle for canned clams. Also, traditionally chowders are thickened with rue (usually spelled in the French manner: Roux. I went to an American culinary school where it was spelled Rue. My blog, my rules), flour paste browned at low temperature in a saute pan. Rues are a bitch, they take practice, both to make and also to integrate into the soup stock without lumps. The advantage is that rues add a rich flavor to the dish that you just don't get otherwise. However, unless you make a rue on a regular basis, you probably don't want to. Really. Also I tend to make this in a big batch. You really can't keep it, it doesn't freeze well at all, so I'll try to give you measurements for a smaller batch, adjust accordingly.

So with all that said, this recipe is simplified a bit. The flavor is nearly as good as the more complex method, but it's a lot easier to make.

What you need:
- Water, start with two quarts, add more if you need to.
- Chicken Base, Tones if you can find it, usually available
at SAMS Club or COSTCO or a good cooking supply store. If
you can't find it, use canned broth substituted for the
water. I use chicken stock because I don't want the chowder
to smell too fishy.  You can use clam stock if you like.
- 1 cup good white wine. DON'T use 'cooking wine' that stuff
comes from the dregs of the winery. It's basically the crap
too lousy to make vinegar out of. Chardonnay is best.
- 1 pt. Half&Half (fat free works just fine)
- 4 cans chopped clams. Retain one can clam juice, filtered
through a coffee filter to get out the sand.  Wash and rinse
the clams, really, wash and rinse unless you like sand in your
soup.
- 1/2 a pack of low-sodium smoked bacon - John Morale if you can
find it. Chill the bacon, then chop across the slices into small
pieces.
- 1 good sized white onion, diced fine.
- 5-6 ribs of celery, diced fine.
- 2-3 three good sized waxy potatoes, yukon gold or white
diced into medium sized cubes
- 1/2 cup flour
- worcestershire sause
- dash white pepper
- kosher salt to taste
- good shredded cheddar cheese, Tillamook for those on the
West Coast.

How you put it together

Step 1a) You need a good sized sauce pan. Add the water and mix
in the chicken base -or- add the canned stock. Bring to a low
boil, be careful don't scorch it. Add the potatoes and simmer
just until they start to soften - don't overdo it, or the
potatoes will turn to mush.  Remove the potatoes and set aside,
keep the stock at low heat.

Step 1b) While the potatoes are simmering, saute the bacon until
it is brown and crunchy.  Remove the bacon bits and set aside,
retain 2 tbsps bacon grease in the pan, add the onions and celery.
Saute until soft, don't overdo it.  Turn the heat as low as it will
go and add the flour. Gently stir the vegetable until they are
coated with the flour and oil. Cook gently until the flour just
starts to brown. Pay attention, if the flour burns, throw the
mix out and start over, unless you like the taste of burned
soup.

Step 2) Add the sauted vegetable/flour mix to the broth. Stir
with a whisk until the flour is completely dissolved into the
broth.  Stirring rapidly, slowly add the Half&Half, keep stirring
or else the cream will 'break' (curdle). Stir for a minute or two
and make sure the heat is on low or else the creamy broth will
burn.  Add the wine, clams, clam juice, salt and pepper, and half the
bacon bits. Heat gently and allow to cook for ten minutes. Add
the potatoes. Allow to cook gently, stirring every ten minutes
until the potatoes are done but still firm - about a half hour.

Step 3) Add a couple of good dashes of Worchestershir sauce.
Seriously, don't skip this ingredient. This adds 'brightness'
and 'depth' to the sauce (Worchestershire sauce is made from
anchovies, this adds a dimension missing from commercial or
restaurant chowders. Commercial soups don't add this, because
it darkens the soup a bit, and they are looking for that latex
paint gloss white look). You don't need a lot, but you must add
at least some.

Step 4) Ladle  into bowls, add a small handful of cheese (this
isn't cheese chowder, what we want here is just a bit of
flavor) and a pinch of bacon bits to the top. If you're trying
impress people, sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley and serve
with hot sourdough bread.

Gotta run into Anchorage and see a man about some millwork. Back in a couple of hours. Maybe.

Soup Day, Part II

Okay, we'll start with the kreplach soup.


Yozah! Good stuff.

First, what it is not.

Second, what it is: Kreplach are small stuffed dumplings, historically made by Ashkenazic Jews. They were originally made from leftover meat but can be equally good made from freshly prepared ground beef, chicken, mashed potatoes, or other fillings. Fillings tend to be family recipes and many people have their own traditional favorite and consider that to be the only right filling. Kreplach are similar to Italian ravioli in concept, and because the dumplings are often served in a simple chicken broth, they are commonly referred to in New York as Jewish Wonton - for their resemblance to the Chineese dumpling soup. Kreplach is a traditional dish served on the day before Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) or on Hashanah Rabba (the 7th day of the Festival of Booths) or on Purim (the Feast of Lots).

Third, the recipe. This recipe is pretty simple and easy to make. This particular method is the one I used, it's based on several recipes and advice and guidance from Nathan Gendzier of the Brooklyn Gendziers (I believe that Gendzier is Yiddish for 'most excellent cool dude and soup guru').

Dough:
2 cups flour (I prefer King Arthur unbleached white)
1/2 tsp salt (Kosher, of course)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 egg yolks (keep the whites, see below)
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tsps baking powder

Combine dry ingredients and mix well.  Add the wet ingredients.
I did this in my Kitchen-Aid mixer using the mixing paddle on low speed.
I see no reason why you couldn't do it by hand, with a pastry folder
(cutting whisk), I just like my Kitchen-Aid.  Mix until you have a good
crumb, similar to making pie crust. Then carefully add a couple of
tablespoons of water until a dough forms, again similar to pie crust
dough or more correctly egg noodle dough if you're used to that.
Divide the dough into three equal sized balls and pack to get the air
bubbles out.  Roll out on a floured surface using a rolling pin, I like
a French pin, but the standard American rolling pin will work just fine.
Roll the dough thin, it's elastic and you may need to let it rest for
a couple of minutes between rollings. Alternately you could run it
through a pasta maker set for lasagna noodles, set the rollers as thin
as you can and make the dough balls whatever size appropriate to your
machine. Cut into 3" squares. I used a large 'rocker' style pizza
cutter, but a pastry dough cutter, standard pizza circular cutter, or
sharp knife will work just fine. Set the squares aside, if it's hot in
your kitchen - put them in the refrigerator.

The Filling:
1 small onion or half a large onion, cut into pieces.
(diced fine, if you don't have a meat grinder)
1 good sized rib of celery, cut into crescents
(diced fine, if you don't have a meat grinder)
2 tbsp butter or oil (I like butter)
1 lb lean beef (approximately 1 lb, little more, little less is OK)
(I like flank steak, it's lean, cheap, and flavorful)
(unless you don't have a meat grinder, then use lean ground beef)
1 Chicken liver. (seriously, it won't taste right without it, really
ask Nathan.)
1 tsp salt (Kosher, pay attention)
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 egg (I just used the two egg whites left over from the dough)

Cut the meat into chunks. Melt the butter (you're using butter,
right? Not the oil) in a heavy pan.  I use a cast-iron, stove-
top deep dutch oven.  Brown the meat, add the onions and celery,
add the liver. Cook until the vegetables are soft, and the meat and
liver are cooked through.  Run the mix through a food grinder set to
fine. You could do this in a food processor, using the pulse
setting or you could chop the vegetables fine and use ground beef and
avoid this step all together. Cool (no not duuude, cool. Cool as put
it in the fridge for a while). Add the rest of the ingredients
and mix thoroughly (use your hand), don't pack the mix together.

Assemble the dumplings:
Put a dab of filling in the middle of a square of dough. Dampen the
edges with a finger tip dipped in water. Fold into a triangle, then
fold each corner towards the middle bottom point. You should end up
with about about 20 Kreplach (this will be enough for the cook who
will eat them over the stove as they come out of the broth, cursing,
and burning their mouth. Adjust accordingly, just saying).

Cook the dumplings:
Make a chicken broth. If you're not big on making broth from scratch,
use Campbell's canned or better yet a couple of big spoonfuls of Tone's
Chicken Base dissolved in a quart of water. Bring to a low boil drop
each dumpling in the broth, cook 3-4 minutes, until they float. Spoon
out and place in a bowl. Cover the bowl with a paper towel dampened
with a bit of the broth.  Refrigerate the dumplings until needed.

Make soup.
Turn the broth into soup, add chunks of chicken, carrot, celery, onion,
chopped parsley, a of dash white pepper, pinch of salt (Kosher).  Make
it chunky. Right before serving, toss in a couple of dumplings per
serving. I served mine with sourdough garlic toast.

All three of us here at Stonekettle Station give this soup two thumbs up with a snap and a tail wag. Good stuff, you really gotta get you some of this.

Next post - Clam Chooowdah.

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Update - A point of procedure: What the hell is the plural of Kreplach? Is it kreplaches? Kreplachi? Kreptephemeri? What?