Fish Chowder
This is a basic cream-style fish chowder. I like to use a relatively mild fish like tilapia, walleye, or sunfish.
This is a basic cream-style fish chowder. I like to use a relatively mild fish like tilapia, walleye, or sunfish.
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 stick butter
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 whole bay leaf
- 4 cups milk
- 8 slices bacon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 can whole kernel corn drained
- 2 stalks celery chopped fine
- 1 whole onion chopped
- 2 whole carrots large dice
- 1 tablespoon thyme chopped fine
- 1 pound red potatoes 1 inch cubes, skins on
- 2 cups fish stock
- 4 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped fine
- 1 1/2 pounds fish fillets 1 inch cubes
- Carbohydrate 26.9151379460979 g
- Cholesterol 87.2559681694908 mg
- Fat 25.4414261631181 g
- Fiber 2.71727089257047 g
- Protein 19.7594110200301 g
- Saturated Fat 11.5975765765821 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (353g)
- Sodium 447.266234545619 mg
- Sugar 24.1978670535274 g
- Trans Fat 2.36994270028612 g
- Calories 413 calories
Step-by-step
- In large stock pot, cook bacon over moderate heat until crisp.
- Remove the bacon from the pan, pat dry, and cut into small pieces.
- Drain the bacon grease from the stock pot and melt the butter in the same pot.
- Stir in the onion, carrots, celery, thyme, and bay leaf.
- Saute the vegetables until the onions are translucent.
- Add the vinegar.
- Slowly stir in the flour and cook 3 to 5 minutes.
- Stir in the paprika and cook 30 additional seconds.
- Pour in the fish stock, milk, cream, and water, stirring until the flour dissolves.
- Bring the mixture to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for roughly 12 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.
- Add the corn, parsley, and fish chunks, and simmer until the fish is cooked through, which will take roughly 5 minutes.
- Stir in the bacon and salt and pepper to taste (I like a lot of black pepper).
- Serve.
When constructing this base, the crucial timing window arrives precisely three to five minutes after incorporating the all-purpose flour into the melted butter and sautéed aromatics. Undercooking this paste leaves a raw cereal taste in the final pot, while overcooking breaks down the starch binding power needed to thicken four cups of milk and two cups of fish stock. Rendering the eight slices of bacon first provides animal fat to sweat the onion, carrots, celery, thyme, and bay leaf at moderate heat until translucent. Deglazing with one tablespoon of balsamic vinegar introduces acetic acid to cut through the heavy dairy fats before the flour enters the Dutch oven or large stock pot. Starch molecules from the flour swell as they absorb liquid during the initial boil, creating a stable emulsion alongside the heavy cream. Once the liquid reduces and simmers for roughly twelve minutes, the one-inch red potato cubes reach proper tenderness through gelatinization of their internal starches. Adding the one and a half pounds of mild fish fillets and corn during the final five minutes prevents overcooking delicate flesh, which turns rubbery if subjected to sustained high heat. Fresh parsley and the reserved crisp bacon pieces restore bright herbaceous notes and textural contrast just before ladling. Pair this rich soup with a dry, high-acid white wine like Sauvignon Blanc, whose tartness cleanses the palate between rich bites of dairy and fish proteins.
