Recipe: Halibut Chowder

Recipe Source: King, Shirley.  Williams-Sonoma Fish.  Simon & Schuster, New York, 2002 p. 14

It's funny how some things get ground into your psyche.  I hail from upstate New York.  Geographically it's a lot more like New England than downstate, but it is still 100% New York.  The language is New York.  The sports teams are all New York - I see more Yankee hats there than I do in Manhattan - and the attitude is New York.  You would think, therefore, that it would be the Manhattan version of chowder that would be pre-eminent there.  You would be wrong.  I didn't even know that more than one type of fish chowder existed until I was well into my twenties and living in New England.  By that point the New England version of fish chowder had become canonical for me, and I can't think of the Manhattan variety without a shudder.  (I strongly suspect I would prefer it if I didn't know it was supposed to be chowder, but there you go.)  Of course, I also grew up in a Southern Italian family where the combination of dairy and fish was always kind of viewed with suspicion at best, but somehow these concerns were laid aside for Chowder.

Now, I love chowder but I really have to be extremely careful about where I buy it.  Traditionally chowder is made with bacon.  Not all manufacturers make chowder with bacon, but that's the traditional recipe and omitting it kind of makes for a vastly inferior product.  Also, the tendency toward food allergies is supposed to be inherited.  (How this explains me when no on in my family has a food allergy I don't know.)  The pediatrician therefore wants us to hold off on introducing certain common allergens until she's older.  One of those common allergens is shellfish.  I've usually seen chowder as clam chowder.  Clams are shellfish.  I'm trying to avoid cooking with things that my daughter cannot eat, since she often wants to try our food.  That means I've had to hold off on making my own chowder... until now.  I finally found a chowder recipe that wasn't written for shellfish!  And it had been lurking in my library the whole time!  I just had to go with it.

I made a few changes, of course.  I used beef bacon instead of regular bacon.  This increased the cost per serving but kept me from dying so I'd call that a win.  Halibut was cheaper than cod that week so that's what I used.  I didn't have seafood stock - they didn't have it at the grocery store that week, and clam juice is expensive.  I used vegetable stock that I already had on hand.  I wound up having to freeze it and serve it at a later date but that was okay.  I knew I'd done well when I smelled it.  "Smells right," I said to myself.  When I tasted it I was beyond delighted.  It tasted exactly like I wanted it to taste.  It was also very filling - we didn't need any side dishes, not even bread.

Halibut Chowder (serves 4; approx. $6.02/serving)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 package beef bacon, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

6 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons whole wheat flour

1 cup half-and-half

1 1/2 cups milk

2 cups vegetable stock

1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup water

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

3/4 pound small potatoes, diced

1 lb halibut fillet

Equipment:

• Large, deep saucepan
• Slotted spoon

1. Heat the oil in the saucepan.
2. Add the bacon.  Fry until crisp.
3. Evacuate the bacon with the slotted spoon and set aside.  If your bacon is very fatty (which, frankly, is the nature of bacon) pour off all but two tablespoons.  Mine was not terribly fatty so I skipped this step.
4. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and saute until soft.
5. Add the flour.  Cook for 30 seconds.
6. Add the half-and-half, milk and stock.  Bring slowly to a boil.
7. Reduce the heat to low.  Stir in the cornstarch mixture.
8. Mix well, then simmer 1 minute.  Season to taste.
9. Add the potatoes.  Simmer, uncovered, until nearly tender.
10. Add the fish and the bacon.  Cook until the fish is thoroughly cooked.  This shouldn't take long.
11. Serve.  Wallow in the deliciousness.  Go ahead.  You know you want to.

Comments

[Selkie]

There are some oldschool Maine variations that say in times of deprivation, smoked fish may be substituted for bacon/salt pork in both baked beans and chowder.

[Fearless Kitchen]

Selkie - that's an idea. I'll have to try it.