To make a thick chowder, saute diced bacon and vegetables and stir in flour to build a thick roux base, slowly add some clam juice and milk and simmer tender potatoes and finish it with chopped clams and rich heavy cream.
Fry diced bacon in a large pot over medium heat until crisp.
Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving about 2 tablespoons of drippings in the pot.
Add butter to the bacon drippings. Cook onion and celery for 5 minutes until soft.
Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Make the roux: Sprinkle flour over the vegetables.
Stir constantly for 2 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste.
Simmer the base: Slowly pour in the clam juice and milk while whisking to prevent lumps.
Add the bay leaf and cubed potatoes.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes until potatoes are tender.
Add clams or your other desired seafood and cream: Stir in the chopped clams or other seafood with their reserved juice and the heavy cream.
Warm through gently for 5 minutes.
Do not let it boil after adding cream.
Serve: Season with salt and pepper, then top with the crispy bacon.
When your chowder is not thickening, it's often a result of the starch not being activated or there is not enough starch in the pot or even the heat is too low to allow the thickener to work properly.
Traditional chowder relies on a cooked flour and fat roux, natural starches from potatoes or dairy to build body.
Adding raw flour directly into a hot liquid causes lumps, not thickness, so it needs to cook in oil or butter first to build a proper roux.
If you used waxy potatoes, like red or new potatoes, instead of starchy potatoes like Russet potatoes or Yukon Gold potatoes, they won't break down and release enough starch into the broth of your chowder.
Starches like flour also need time and a gentle simmer to swell up and trap the liquid so you may need to turn the heat up a bit.
And using regular milk or half and half instead of heavy cream means that less fat and protein are available to naturally enrich the texture.
Some quick and easy fixes to fix your thin chowder include mashing the potatoes, making a slurry or even using instant potato flakes.
You can scoop out a few potato chunks, mash them with a fork and stir them back into the pot.
To make a slurry, mix equal parts of cornstarch or flour with cold water or broth until smooth, then slowly pour it into the simmering chowder while stirring.
For the instant potato flakes, stir in a small handful of plain instant mashed potato flakes and they will dissolve instantly and thicken the soup without changing the flavor.
Or even add a beurre manie by kneading equal parts of soften butter and flour together into a paste, then whisk small pieces into the hot soup until it reaches the right thickness.
The best way to cut potatoes for chowder is to dice the potatoes into uniform cubes, which measure 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick.
Dicing the potatoes into uniform cubes that measure 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick ensures that the potato pieces cook completely and remain tender in the hot broth without falling apart or turning into mush.
Common chowder mistakes are boiling the dairy until it curdles as well as overcooking any seafood into a rubbery texture, over blending the potatoes or over cooking the potatoes so that the base turns gluey and adding too much flour thickener, and failing to build a strong flavor base with aromatics.
For the boiling of milk or cream in chowder, adding the dairy too early or allowing the pot to reach a hard boil will cause the chowder to curdle and break.
You should always lower the heat before you stir in cream into your chowder.
Also skipping the rest time for chowder is also a common mistake with making chowder because serving chowder immediately after cooking and making it misses out on flavor integration.
Allowing the chowder to rest off heat for a few minutes deepens the taste.
Mistakes that are commonly made when making chowder that involve the texture and seafood include, rubbery seafood, gluey potatoes and heavy handed thickening.
Overcooking the seafood like clams, fish or other seafood turns them tough and chewy.
So you should add the delicate seafood at the very end of cooking your chowder just to heat it through.
Overcooking or over blending the starchy potatoes releases too much amylose, which results in a pasty, gluey texture instead of a smooth broth.
And dumping in too much flour or cornstarch into your chowder makes the chowder heavy and pasty, instead of being naturally rich.
And for flavor foundation mistakes with chowder, using bland seasoning and forgetting to sweat the onions, celery or render the bacon fat first leaves the base flat.
To make great chowder, start with a flavorful base like rendered bacon fat, choose waxy potatoes that keep their shape, use real seafood stock or clam juice for depth, and stir in your cream or delicate seafood at the very end so they do not overcook or curdle.
Building Flavor and Base for your chowder:
Start with pork: Render diced bacon or salt pork in your pot first. Cook your onions and celery in that leftover fat.
Use clam juice: Boost your broth with bottled clam juice or a rich fish stock instead of just water or plain milk.
Add aromatics: Drop in a bay leaf or a pinch of fresh thyme while the base simmers.
Potatoes and Thickening for your chowder:
Choose waxy potatoes: Use Yukon Gold or red potatoes so they stay tender without falling apart and turning the soup mushy.
Make a quick roux: Whisk a little all-purpose flour into your butter and bacon drippings before adding liquids to create a velvety base.
Use natural starches: Let some of the potato starch thicken the soup naturally, or mash a few potato pieces against the side of the pot.
Adding Dairy and Seafood to your chowder:
Time the seafood right: Add pre-cooked or canned clams, or delicate fish and shrimp, during the last few minutes of cooking to keep them tender and chewy-free.
Stir in cream late: Add heavy cream or half-and-half near the end of the cooking process so the dairy does not curdle or scorch.
Let it rest: Turn off the heat and let the chowder sit for five to ten minutes before serving so the flavors settle and the temperature drops to a safe level.