Recipe: New England Fish Chowder

New England Fish Chowder
Makes 6 main course servings

2 1/2 pounds fresh firm white fish fillets
4 cups fish stock or 2 cups bottled or canned clam juice and 2 cups of water (More Than Gourmet makes an excellent, highly concentrated fish stock)
6 ounces "streak of lean" salt pork (with the rind removed) cut into 3/8-inch dice, blanched for 5 minutes in 2 quarts of water, and drained
4 1/2 cups thinly sliced onions
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
5 cups sliced "boiling" potatoes
1 teaspoon each fresh sage and thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns, roughly crushed
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Additional fish stock, milk or water
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 cup light or heavy cream
Fresh parsley, thyme, sage coarsely chopped -- for garnish

Base: Saut the blanched salt pork for several minutes in a 3-quart saucepan to brown very lightly and render fat. Stir in the onions, then the garlic, and cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions are translucent and tender. Drain off excess fat and save it.

Stir the flour into the onion mixture. Add a little of the reserved fat if the mixture is too dry, and cook slowly, stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.

In another pot, bring the fish stock to the simmer, then vigorously beat 4 cups (1 at a time!) into the vegetables and pork.

Add the potatoes, herbs, peppercorns (no salt here!). Cook until potatoes are tender then simmer slowly 5 minutes. Now taste and add salt as needed. [You want to wait until now because the salt pork is quite salty, if you've used bottled clam juice, it's VERY salty, and after the potatoes have cooked you'll have a better idea of how much additional salt you'll need.] You can make the chowder up to this point and refrigerate it for up to 2 days.

Shortly before you are ready to serve, bring the base to the simmer. Cut your fish into 2 -inch chunks and add to the base. Add extra stock, milk or water to cover the ingredients. Simmer about 5 minutes, or JUST until the fish chunks are opaque. DON'T overcook! Taste again for seasoning.

To serve, ladle into wide soup plates. Top with chopped fresh herbs, and pass the common crackers.

Tip: Cod, haddock or halibut are the most obvious fish choices, but investigate less known, less expensive and more widely available varieties such as orange roughy and pollock, or (in New England) even the ubiquitous "Chowder fish". Just make sure that the fish fillets you choose are FRESH.