Chunky Seafood Chowder
This creamy chowder brimming with tender potato and crab tastes so good guests will never guess it starts with canned soup. Half-and-half cream makes it rich enough for special occasions. I often serve it with crackers or French bread after a sporting event or outing.
This creamy chowder brimming with tender potato and crab tastes so good guests will never guess it starts with canned soup. Half-and-half cream makes it rich enough for special occasions. I often serve it with crackers or French bread after a sporting event or outing.
- Carbohydrate 197.60721183433 g
- Cholesterol 461.565486535759 mg
- Fat 135.162613153293 g
- Fiber 17.2187729478177 g
- Protein 60.1216442458312 g
- Saturated Fat 83.9097695376973 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Recipe (1965g)
- Sodium 2507.39624707233 mg
- Sugar 180.388438886512 g
- Trans Fat 7.17173578655344 g
- Calories 2204 calories
Step-by-step
- In a saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender.
- Add cream and canned chowder; bring to a boil.
- Stir in potatoes, salt and pepper.
- Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
- Stir in crab and heat through.
Beyond the Label
The ingredient list leaves out how density affects your cookware choice. Thick dairy and starchy potatoes scorching on the bottom of a thin saucepan will ruin the entire batch before the seafood even goes in. Using a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven distributes heat evenly, preventing scorching while the potatoes simmer in the rich cream base. Keeping the heat at a low simmer rather than a rolling boil prevents the half-and-half from breaking into an unappealing graininess.
Potatoes and Prep Work
Uniform cube sizing determines whether your potatoes finish cooking evenly within that crucial twenty-minute window. Cutting them into precise half-inch dice ensures they soften completely without turning to mush while absorbing the briny clam flavors from the base. If you lack a sharp chef's knife for this task, a mandoline set to a thick julienne can speed up the cubing process considerably. Testing a potato piece by piercing it with a paring knife should yield zero resistance right before you drop in the flaked imitation crab.
Managing Dairy and Substitutions
Half-and-half provides a high fat content that coats the tongue and carries flavors effectively, but whole milk or heavy cream can step in depending on what sits in your refrigerator. Swapping the half-and-half for whole milk requires reducing the heat further and stirring constantly to prevent curdling, while heavy cream demands a splash of water to keep the finished texture pourable rather than gluey. Always add the imitation crab at the very end of the cooking process just until heated through, since prolonged boiling turns surimi rubbery and strips away its delicate sweetness.
