Best Clam Chowder Recipe

The materials needed are 50 round clams (quahogs), a big bowl of salt pork slice up fine, the same of onions finely chopped, and the same (or more, if you desire) of potatoes slice into eighths or sixteenths of original size; wash the clams very thoroughly and put them in a pot with ½ a pint of water; when the shells are open they are done; then take them from the shells and chop fine, saving all the clam water for the chowder; fry out the pork very gently, and when the scraps are a good brown remove them and add the chopped onions to fry; they should be fried in a frying pan, and the chowder kettle be made very clean before they are add it, or the chowder will burn. (The chief secret in making great chowder is to fry the onions so delicately that they will be missing in the chowder.)

Add a quart of hot water to the onions; add the clams, clam water and pork scraps. After it boils, add the potatoes, and when they are cooked, the chowder is done. Just before it is taken up, thicken it with a cup of powdered crackers, and add a quart of fresh milk. If too rich, add more water. No seasoning is necessary but good black pepper.

With the addition of six sliced tomatoes, or ½ a can of the canned ones, this is the best recipe of this kind, and is served in many of our best restaurants.