Seafood Chowder
Both literal, with a couple recipes, and figurative, with a mix of things to share with you
Okay, so that figurative definition of “chowder” in the subtitle may be something I just made up. But this newsletter was shaping up to cover a range of different things and that sounds so much better than mishmash or hodgepodge. Interestingly, I just saw that Merriam-Webster lists gumbo, ragout, and stew among synonyms of hodgepodge, so chowder seems fitting in that midst.
A quick note for Puget Sound area readers, there’s a sure-to-be-great event up in Bellingham next weekend with seafood lovers in mind. The Seafood Shell-abration being held May 16 is put on by Bellingham SeaFeast—whose showcase event is in September each year. This is among many other events they host—all celebrating seafood from the Northwest and giving people a chance to learn more about those seafoods and the people who work hard to bring us the delicious fish and shellfish. At the “shell-abration” will be a raw bar with oysters from a number of local farms, plus a range of other seafoods. Sounds like a fabulous way to spend an afternoon!
Celebrating West Coast Seafood
The Sea Grants of Washington, Oregon, and California have collaborated on Discover West Coast Seafood, a new website that offers a wide range of information geared to those of us who may be cooking any of the dozens of types of seafood harvested along the West Coast.
The site does a great job of focusing on various topics that help us learn more about those seafoods—including general species information, seasonality, recipe ideas. And to help us learn more about what it takes to make those seafoods available, the site also includes details about various fishing and farming methods. This is so valuable for consumers who want to be more informed about the seafood options—even just to understand the terms that may be used on signage or menus. In a seafood class I taught recently, one of the students said he didn’t know what “troll-caught” meant, a perfect example of information consumers are looking for when shopping for, or ordering, seafood. Here you can see how the site covers troll harvest.
I also love that the site offers a “Find It” section, each state providing resources to help us get our hands on these seafoods. Options range from grocery stores and specialty seafood markets to farmers markets on sales at docks.
Another thing special about this new site is the introduction to the people who are doing the fishing and the farming—helping make a direct connection for us to the source of some of the seafood we may be buying. It makes those purchases less anonymous, letting us understand more about the work and care that goes into harvest and farming. And we gain a better appreciation for the livelihoods we support when choosing these and other regional seafoods. Toward the bottom of the homepage is a great short video that takes us on the Winona J in Oregon with Captain Michael Retherford to learn a bit about harvest of pink shrimp.
This collaborative website was released in the fall and is still in beta—they’re looking for feedback and working to fine-tune the content and presentation to make it as useful and valuable as possible for seafood fans. I encourage you to visit to see the range of great information provided there, and if you feel like something’s missing, or some part of it could be easier to use or understand, there’s a Give Feedback Here button at the top of the page.
Wading Through Sustainability Info
Seafood sustainability is such a huge topic, one I’ve certainly touched on over the years, in this newsletter and in my books and other projects. But it’s a topic that’s growing increasingly complex for a whole host of reasons that include changing climate, new research, evolutions in fishery practices, and an expanding list of factors considered when measuring what’s deemed sustainable today—among other things.
Which is why this recent article (from the Associated Press, it was picked up by a bunch of papers, including this one) hit home for me on so many levels, with such a telling headline: “Consumers are lost at sea as seafood sustainability grows more complex.” It echoes my own head-spinning trying to keep up on sustainability news, and reinforces the sympathy I have for all the home cooks heading to the store just trying to make a good decision at the seafood case.
Sure, I’m a writer focused on seafood, I spend a lot of my time thinking about this.
But I’m also an average shopper in many ways. My work life doesn’t make buying seafood all that more carefree than it does others. I still am leery of buying a bag of frozen fish that doesn’t have a recognized sustainability certification. Like the mahimahi from Costco. The bag we recently had says the fish was sourced from Peru, which—if you look at Seafood Watch—is on the red “avoid” list. But World Wildlife Fund’s sustainable seafood arm focuses on Peruvian mahimahi being a FIP, or Fishery Improvement Project, working toward Marine Stewardship Council certification. And supporting those fisheries is considered important support of efforts toward more seafood getting to that certification level. But that’s a lot of digging around to do and various points of view to look into before choosing what’s for dinner. And how much improving are those FIPs doing, anyway?
That’s just one of countless examples of the many facets to be considered regarding whether a seafood is sustainable or not—confounding consumers (and writers!!) and possibly making them “just opt for chicken,” as that article pointed out (something I’ve said many times, too, though I usually pick pork chops, for whatever reason).
Which leads me to one tip for making it easier to shop for seafood with confidence and without worry about whether you’re making a sustainable choice or not: find stores that make their commitment to sustainable seafood purchasing clear to you as a customer. The kind of place where you know, once you walk through the door, that everything in the case has met their standards and you can shop without a second thought.
I just visited one such shop in Olympia, Washington, this weekend, the family-owned Olympia Seafood Company. And I’ll be talking with folks at an independent seafood market in Brooklyn this week.
And if YOU have a great seafood market, top-quality seafood counter at a grocery store, or other outstanding source for your seafood that you’d like to share with me, I’d love to hear about them in the comments below. Potential folks for me to reach out to in the future, as I continue to learn more about all the dots that connect us home cooks with the seafoods we love to cook. I look forward to sharing insights I pick up from some of the best shops around the country for getting your hands on great, sustainable seafood.
Chowder Notes
Now to the real chowder. The tasty kind. I’m sharing below links to two different chowders I’ve written about in newsletters past, dating back two and three years respectively. With so many new subscribers in the last couple years, I figure those will be new recipes to most of you. And a quick little reminder for the others.
And to add to the pot, a few random chowdery notes of interest (or at least trivia!):
the word “chowder” is derived from the French work chaudière, a traditional heavy pot, or cauldron, fishermen used to make stews with some of their catch
National Clam Chowder Day is February 25
I just learned that Santa Cruz hosts what looks to be a really fun clam chowder cook-off for both amateurs and professionals every February
I’m here for all the variations on chowder: clam or other seafoods (and sure, yes, a corn chowder too I suppose!), creamy or tomato-y. But apparently someone in Maine once tried to outlaw putting tomatoes in clam chowder. Some people clearly harbor strong feelings about chowder.
And this post on Eater is a decade old, but covers interesting territory about chowder in the US, its many regional variations and such.
If you’re ready to head into the kitchen to make a pot yourself, you’ll find my clam chowder recipe here (from my recent Shellfish cookbook), and my salmon and celery root chowder recipe here (from my Salmon cookbook going back a couple decades!).
Oh, and chowder loves oyster crackers on top—those in the clam chowder photo above are homemade, a recipe you can find here. Sure, it’s more of a fiddle than just buying a bag at the store. But they’re pretty fun to make and there’s extra satisfaction in the flavor and texture you’ll get. Good enough to just snack on as is!
In St. Augustine, FL the chowder of choice is Minorcan which is akin to a spicy Manhattan style Clam Chowder. It generally contains datil peppers as well as tomatoes.