Howdy Chowder

Chowder, just the sound of that word conjures up feelings of bliss and happiness. I always associated the word chowder with clams when I was younger and clams were not the most abundant things in my little southern New Mexico town so chowders were exotic. Quite the opposite of chowders humble roots but what did I know.


"Chowder has its roots in the Latin word calderia, which originally meant a place for warming things, and later came to mean cooking pot. The word calderia also gave us cauldron, and in French became chaudiere. It is also thought to come from the old English word jowter (a fish peddler)."


You can read all about the history here. Chowder is typically a rich and creamy soup full of chunks of ingredients that almost make it like a stew. The ingredients usually include seafood, vegetables and cream. Traditionally made chowder has a base of bacon and is thickened up with crackers that have been broken into the base. Today, there are all kinds of variations using everything from seafood and poultry to just using vegetables. In the 1800's American cooks started to make the transition to using clams in their recipes - mostly because of the abundance of shell fish found in the New Colonies. Cooks began experimenting and adding cream to the chowders. They then began to differentiate different and unique types of chowder based on the ingredients used. Thus, other types of chowders appeared such as Corn Chowder or Sausage Bean Chowder or Beef Chowder. Therefore, Chowder doesn't always have to include seafood. It's believed that all kinds of vegetable or meat chowders came into existence because the cook was just using up whatever ingredients he or she had lying around the kitchen.


This is a nice and creamy squash, squash blossom and roasted corn and garlic chowder. Easy to make if you want the recipe you know what to do.