I’m a finalist in a cooking contest! As my friends know I’m a proud home cook. I make my own stock and spice blends, maintain an herb garden and a whole pantry system.

So when I found out that our local newspaper, the Staten Island Advance, has a cooking contest I had to apply. I chose to submit a recipe for “Maple Clam Chowder’ because it’s at once familiar and just different enough to be contest-worthy. (Also, I figured I could submit it as an Appetizer on the theory that that might be a less competitive category.) Why maple? Well, most chowders start with bacon. On a whim, I used maple-cured bacon once and my wife loved it but asked me to kick up the flavor profile with some additional real maple syrup.

I don’t really go by recipes. For dishes I’ve mastered, I go more by color, fragrance and consistency to guide me. For the past few years, we’ve spent our Christmases in Chicago with my wife’s large extended family and I’ve made variations of seafood chowders for Christmas Eve. I ask my mother-in-law to find her largest pot “and I will fill the vessel with chowder.”

I kind of appreciated the challenge of (literally) reducing this recipe and trying my hand at the under-appreciated craft of technical writing.

So, anyway, I’m in the “2018 Staten Island Cookbook” and we’ll find out if my dish wins the category in a few weeks.

Maple Clam Chowder
(serves 4-6 people)

Prep time: 30 minutes (or up to 12 hours)
Active cooking time: 2.5 hours

Ingredients:

24 live littleneck clams still in shell
3 strips of maple cured bacon, cut into ½” pieces
6 medium-sized red potatoes, peeled and diced small
2 stalks of celery, medium chopped
1 yellow onion, roughly diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
½ cup of fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 ounce of brandy or dry sherry
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
¼ cup of real maple syrup
3 tablespoons of corn starch
12 cups of water
3 bay leaves
½ a cup of heavy cream

  1. Under a running faucet, scrub the clams clean. Submerge them in a bowl with enough cold tap water to cover them while you chop your vegetables and bacon. The live clams are filter feeders and will expel little bits of sand and grit while in the cold water. (Note: if you’ve got the time and inclination, you can do this step ahead of time, refrigerating your clams overnight.)
  2. In a pot, bring the 12 cups of water and teaspoon of salt to a rolling boil. While you’re waiting for the pot to boil, drain the bowl of scrubbed clams. Add the clams to the boiling water. After about ten minutes, the clams will begin to open. As they do, remove them from the pot with a pair of tongs and keep them submerged in cool water until you’re ready to add them to the soup. When the last clam has cooked, turn the heat off the pot. This is now your stock.
  3. In a separate 5 quart stock pot, add the chopped raw bacon and turn to high heat. Cook as you would strips of breakfast bacon, but reduce to medium heat when the bacon begins to brown but well before it threatens to turn crispy (Approximately: four minutes). Add the celery, onion and garlic and continue to sauté for five minutes.
  4. Add the brandy or sherry to the sautéed bacon and vegetables and stir thoroughly, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pot.
  5. Pour the stock through a strainer into the pot with the bacon and vegetables. Reserve one half cup of the clam stock to make a corn starch slurry. Bring the pot back to a rolling boil and then reduce to a simmer.
  6. To make your clam starch slurry, add the 3 tablespoons of corn starch to the hot half cup of clam stock. Whisk and set aside.
  7. Add the bay leaves, parsley and corn starch slurry and simmer for 90 minutes.
  8. Remove the clam meat from the shells and chop to your preference. (These are big meaty clams; you might prefer a coarse chop to ensure big bites of clam in the finished meal or you might prefer smaller pieces for an over-all smoother chowder. You do you.) Add the chopped clams to the pot.
  9. Add the maple syrup and heavy cream. Continue to simmer for 30 more minutes.