Start with Great Stock

The Foundation for Almost Everything

Discussing soup and chowder recipes (much like talking gumbo with folks in Louisiana) always seems to bring on a good debate. Soup and chowder are often those things where family tradition comes into play in a very strong way. How mom made soup and chowder is how soup and chowder should be made.

Granite Ware
12 Quart Stockpot

Field Guide
to Seafood

Creole Gumbo
and All That Jazz

My mother is from south Louisiana, where gumbo, shrimp, and crawfish are the rule, so we didn’t eat chowders and clam based soups and stews at our house. In fact, I remember getting my first canned clam chowder at a grocery store to try out the famous dish. Boy, was I disappointed. I couldn’t even finish it. I may not have been a chef yet, but I still knew when something didn’t taste good.

I’ve now tried a few canned chowders and seafood soups, and can safely say, I don’t believe good seafood soups can come from a can. It isn’t that some ingredients can’t come from a can. I’ve been relatively satisfied with clam chowder made from canned clams and canned clam juice, but I’d still say the best seafood based soups must be made from scratch seafood.

Fresh seafood and vegetables, of course, are an important aspect of fish based soups and chowders, but I believe stock is the real key. With my upbringing, I got used to shrimp being an integral part of seafood based soups, and I’m partial to shrimp stock in my soups and chowders. Sure, you can buy some salt filled seafood bases that will make a decent stock, but if you want to make a great chowder it has to start with great stock.

Here is a basic shrimp stock recipe I’ve put together to get you started. It is a basic recipe ready to be tweaked to your tastes. Feel free to try it, and begin changing it. I believe altering recipes to suit your tastes is one of the fundamental joys of cooking.

Shrimp Stock

• 4 cups shrimp shells (heads and/or tails included if possible)
• half gallon of water (can use up to one gallon, however)
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 ribs of celery, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 bay leaves

Instructions

1. Throw everything in a stockpot and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, skimming off any foam as it cooks.
3. When finished, strain and use in your favorite seafood soup, gumbo, or chowder recipe.

Give this recipe a try in your next seafood soup, stew, or chowder. Then begin making adjustments to your own tastes.

Article by:
David Thornton
Freelance Writer and Chef