Tips for Making a Good Clam Chowder

Duke Moscrip, owner and founder of Seattle's Duke's Chowder House the restaurant's owner and founder, shares his secrets to his signature specialty, clam chowder. A restaurateur for more than 40 years, Duke first developed a taste for clams at his New England grandfather's dinner table.Duke didn't particularly love grandpa's chowder, which was brothy and full of robust clam flavors, but Grandpa made it clear that if Duke wanted the chocolate éclairs sitting in the middle of the dinner table then he'd eat that chowder and learn to like it. Indeed, Duke developed an astute taste for clams back then. Many years later, when Seattle was hosting a massive chowder competition in the 1980s, Duke and his then chef rose to the challenge and submitted their carefully crafted chowder.

Duke's clam chowder won that competition by a landslide three years in a row. The creamy clam chowder has been a fixture on his menus ever since. Naturally,  Duke has some rock solid opinions on how to make a good clam chowder. Here are a few that form the foundation:

1. Use Good All Natural Clams—Duke is a stickler for ingredients and goes to great lengths to keep additives and preservatives out of his chowder. Canned clams, which are full of tri polyphosphates, are out of the question. Hence, he purchases domestic clams that are processed, flash frozen and shipped directly to him. These all-natural clams have superior flavor and aroma and form the backbone of his chowder.
2. Learn to Make a Roux—Duke says it's important to learn to make a roux, which is a mixture of flour and butter and acts as a thickener. If the roux isn't cooked properly at the beginning, then the  chowder will be a mucky pasty mess. He also explained that if the roux breaks, then the whole thing is a flop.
3. Balance the Flavors and Ditch the Carrots—Duke knows that clam has to be the dominant flavor and nothing should overpower that. He also says to ditch the carrots—they have no place in chowder and their sweetness adds the wrong accent. Celery is okay because it adds a little crunch, which you want.
4. Choose the Correct Potato—The choice of potato can make or break the results. Duke likes red potatoes because they don't give off too much starch and bleed into the chowder.
5. Know your Herbs-After much experimentation, Duke knows that basil, dill, marjoram, parsley, and thyme are the essential herbs in his chowder, adding a subtle accent to the dish.
6. Give it Time—Duke believes in the power of curing the chowder, which basically means that the chowder cools and is kept overnight in the fridge. He says, "The second day is dramatically better than the first. The flavors bloom during a cure. They get more pronounced."

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