Manhattan clam chowder
Photo: Alexa · CC BY 2.0

History

The red Manhattan style emerged in late-19th-century clam shacks on Coney Island and the Rhode Island shore, attributed variously to Portuguese fishermen who added tomato to the New England base and to Italian immigrants at Brooklyn's clam houses. The dish was codified at the Grand Central Oyster Bar (since 1913) and at Sloppy Louie's in the South Street Seaport. New England chowder partisans waged a Maine state legislative campaign in 1939 to ban tomato from clam soup; New York ignored the bill and the recipe stuck. The Oyster Bar still serves a daily Manhattan and a daily New England side by side, no preference declared.

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Common allergens: Shellfish

Make it at home

Yield 6Hands-on 30 minTotal 1 hrDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 1.5kg fresh littleneck or cherrystone clams, scrubbed
  • 750ml water
  • 100g salt pork or smoked bacon, diced
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 2 celery stalks, diced
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 can (800g) plum tomatoes, crushed
  • 500g waxy potatoes, diced 1cm
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Flat-leaf parsley to finish
  • Oyster crackers to serve

Method

  1. Steam the clams open in the water in a covered pot, 5 to 8 minutes. Strain the broth through cheesecloth and reserve. Shuck the clams, chop coarsely, reserve.
  2. In a heavy pot, render the salt pork over medium heat until crisp. Lift out the cracklings, leave the fat behind.
  3. Sweat the onion, celery and carrot in the fat for 8 minutes. Add garlic, bay and thyme for the last minute.
  4. Add tomatoes and the reserved clam broth. Simmer 15 minutes.
  5. Add the potatoes. Simmer 12 to 15 minutes until just tender.
  6. Return the chopped clams and the cracklings. Heat through 2 minutes only; clams toughen if cooked longer.
  7. Season with pepper (the clams supply salt), scatter parsley, serve with oyster crackers.

Tip from the editors. Buy clams the day you cook. If using canned clams, halve the quantity and use the canning liquid as the broth backbone.

Where to eat manhattan clam chowder

Manhattan clam chowder in New York City

Grand Central Oyster Bar ★ 4.4

$$$ SeafoodMidtown

The Grand Central Oyster Bar has poured oysters and clam chowder beneath the Guastavino tiles of New York City's Grand Central Terminal since 1913.

OrderA cup of Manhattan clam chowder and a half-dozen East Coast oysters at the counter.

TipSit at the counter facing the open kitchen; the pan roast is theatre when made to order.

Directions Book

Maison Premiere ★ 4.6

$$$ Cocktail barOyster and cocktail barWilliamsburg

Maison Premiere on Bedford Avenue has poured absinthe and shucked oysters in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City since 2011. James Beard winner 2016.

DrinkAbsinthe service and house Sazerac

FoodRaw bar with 30+ oyster varieties and seasonal plates

TipOyster happy hour 16:00-19:00 weekdays is the way in; the garden opens April through November and books weeks ahead.

Directions Book

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