Real Recipes From Real Home Cooks ®

quahog chowder

Recipe by
Carol Junkins
Hanson, MA

Recipe taken from cookbook " Foods that made New England Famous" by Mrs. Nelson A. Washburn, Needham, MA. She wrote: This recipe had its origin in the ingenuity of an early Plymouth housewife. I received it from one of her fine old Yankee descendants. He said , " In the old days when my family had to make do with things at hand they or a neighbor always had a cow and a pig and a little backyard garden so they could get milk and pork and onions and potatoes. Plenty of Quahogs to be had just for the digging.

yield serving(s)
prep time 20 Min
cook time 15 Min
method Stove Top

Ingredients For quahog chowder

  • take:
  • a nickel's worth of salt pork (about 1 1/2" cube)
  • a big onion
  • 2
    potatoes, as big as my fist (his fists were big)
  • 2 qt
    quahogs (in the shell)
  • 1 qt
    of milk

How To Make quahog chowder

  • 1
    Take your pork and cut up fine, put it in your kettle and cook slowly. When the pork starts to look crispy, cut your large onion finely as well and add your onion letting it cook slowly until soft.
  • 2
    Now start opening your quahogs over a bowl to save the juices. Use a paring knife to slide in opening and twist, if you have a problem, you could steam them .
  • 3
    Pour all the juices in the kettle and bring to a boil. Now add your cut fine potatoes and cook until soft.
  • 4
    Now chop your quahogs very fine (could use meat grinder) Add to potatoes after they are soft. Now cook 2 minutes more, add your milk, bring to boil then take off of heat. Best flavor if you serve it the next day, so wait awhile to serve.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT