ISSUE 60, CHOWDERS, Part 6: Fish Chowder
Fish Chowder
Many culinary crimes were committed under this general designation. In the coastal eating houses of the American Northeast, those with the least pretension too frequently served bowls of hot liquid that purported to be fish chowder. “The greasy, rank-with-onion liquid, with a few pieces of potato and with no signs of fish except skin and bones” gave fish chowder a shady reputation in the 19th century. Yet a crew of outdoor event chefs, port city wives, and hotel culinarians in New England kept the true faith. Their fish chowder was never thin, never over laden with onions, and never greasy. The quality of the classic fish chowder depended on the fish featured in the liquid. The echt-New England Daniel Webster preferred cod, but haddock had adherents as well.
The great issue with fish chowder was bones. No one wished a fish rib tickling one’s throat. Depending on the complexity of the skeleton of the fish in the kettle, one either boned it before (if the fish had few and large bones) or after it was cooked (more complex and finer bones). A common method was to tie the fresh fish in a bag of cheesecloth or mosquito netting. It would be cooked in the kettle, the bag extracted, and the cooked fished opened up and the bones extracted. It would be laid in the tureen and the stock, milk, potatoes prepped to proper thickness and poured over it. [“A Boneless Fish Chowder,” Beaumont Journal (Sept 19, 1910), 6].
In Roman Catholic enclaves in Boston and Providence, Fish Chowder (prepped without salt pork) became Friday Night fare when the meatless day was sanctioned as a pious discipline.
Among the descendants of the Old Puritans, Fish Chowder became the central dish of the great summer festival held at Squantum in Massachusetts. This annual gathering first held in 1775 and continued through much of the 19th century included 17th century cosplay, dancing, an annual prophetic vision delivered by a Wampanoag seer, and feasting. There were kettles of fish chowder and clam chowder. To be assigned the role of chowder master was reckoned a great honor. The greatest chowder cook of the 19th century was reckoned to be Orra Taft whose restaurant on Brattle Street in Boston was Mecca for fish lovers.