Seafood Chowder Throwdown!

Who's got the best chowder in town? Looks like we'll find out at the Rumble on the River - see the announcement above.

We've already got a great line-up of chefs/restaurants:
Theatre Square Market Place, Equus/Jack’s, Dish on Market, NA Exchange, Selena's, Captain’s Quarters, and Shady Lane Cafe.

Brownings threw down the gauntlet this morning. Who else is in? Bragging rights for a year, and the ability to lord it over your friends. Priceless.

And to the foodies- who else do you want to see compete?

Deb

mitchell's fish market would be a good contender. and also will this be only seafood chowder or will there be clam chowder also.

From past experience with these throwdowns, the interpretation of the dish is wide open to the creativity of the chef!
I'm almost certain someone will make their version of clam chowder, but some of us like to broaden the scope of what is possible and still maintain the integrity of the dish.

Here's a link to the results of the Shrimp and Grit Throwdown....
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/shrim ... -throwdown

I'm with Dan: I'd say anything that's liquid, with some seafood ( of any type) in it, would qualify.

Are you listening, Stephen??

Deb

I'm with Dan: I'd say anything that's liquid, with some seafood ( of any type) in it, would qualify.

Are you listening, Stephen??

Deb

I think (as Dan stated) one needs to "maintain the integrity of the dish" but by the same token have a broad enough definition to allow for creativity. Personally, I would not categorize a dish like Cioppino as anything remotely resembling a Chowder but not everyone might feel that way. What say we consider this a town hall meeting ? We'll listen to some other opinions and then caucus in executive session and come up with our own consensus of what is best for the people. (Spoken just like a REAL politician)

Steve,

Wiki disagrees with you :

Chowder is any of a variety of stews, involving bacon and seafood and thickened with crushed ship biscuit. To some Americans (mostly New Englanders), it means clam chowder, made with cream or milk in most places, or with tomato as "Manhattan clam chowder". Corn chowder is a thick soup filled with whole corn kernels.

The most accepted[by whom?] etymology for the word chowder comes from the cooking pot in which it is cooked, known in French as a chaudière, from the Latin caldaria (akin to English cauldron).[1] The word "chowda" is a New England word that came from Newfoundland, where Breton fishermen—who would throw portions of the day's catch and other available foods into a large pot—introduced the word, and perhaps the fish soup itself (compare bouillabaisse). Another possible origin for the word chowder is derived from the Old English "jowter", which means fishmonger (one who peddles fish).[1]

Fish chowder, along with corn and clam chowder, continues to enjoy popularity in New England and Atlantic Canada.

See also
•Cioppino, a fish stew derived from Italian cuisine
•Jeongol, a chowder-like stew in Korean cuisine

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/chowder#ixzz1CH6m5G1J

I lived in the Northeast for 14 years and I'm a native Californian. Cioppino, boulliabaise (which I grew up on) and Manhattan clam chowder are all basically daughters of the same mother. I say let freedom reign- and may the best Chef win!

I'm with Dan: I'd say anything that's liquid, with some seafood ( of any type) in it, would qualify.

Are you listening, Stephen??

Deb

I think (as Dan stated) one needs to "maintain the integrity of the dish" but by the same token have a broad enough definition to allow for creativity. Personally, I would not categorize a dish like Cioppino as anything remotely resembling a Chowder but not everyone might feel that way. What say we consider this a town hall meeting ? We'll listen to some other opinions and then caucus in executive session and come up with our own consensus of what is best for the people. (Spoken just like a REAL politician)

Damn Steve...I was planning a surprize attack with a bowl of really bitchen wharf style Cioppino (with a crusty loaf of "real" sourdough on the side) and my plan has been foiled...). Oh well, back to New England I go...

Damn, Clancy- that sounds good and I'm guessing it's not on the menu. Gonna have to make me some Cioppino this weekend.
Deb

Damn Steve...I was planning a surprize attack with a bowl of really bitchen wharf style Cioppino (with a crusty loaf of "real" sourdough on the side) and my plan has been foiled...). Oh well, back to New England I go...

Fear not Mr. Clancy, I am generally on the minority party side of the aisle in the Parliamentary Alliance. I have no doubt that before it's all said and done if it even smells like fish, it'll work.

Here's the latest list of contenders from the other thread:

So keeping a running tally, the list of participants (as of 3pm 1/28) includes:

Theatre Square Market Place
Equus/Jack’s
Dish on Market
NA Exchange
Selena's
Captain’s Quarters
Shady Lane Cafe.
Brownings
Lilly's
At Your Service Catering

Steve says: Room for 6 more ya'll. Come on down.
Deb

This is really taking shape. I am very excited about the contestants so far.
A little bit about the recipient of the money. Hope Center For Growth http://hopecenterforgrowth.org a non profit setup by parents whose children have autism. The main focus to this point has been running a summer program for kids in the tween to teen age range, very under served market in the autism world. My son Wyatt has been going to the camp for two years and it is a tremendous program. For these kids, it is very important to keep the learning going. So much is lost in the summer months but with this program they have fun and keep their skills sharp so they are ready for the next year of school.
Thanks to Steve P for intiating the fundraiser this year. Deb Hall, Dan Thomas and Alan Hinks are an extrodinary team getting this event off the ground. Robin and all of the other sponsors are doing their part to make this happen. I hope you all can attend and good luck to the teams competing.
I have leveled the playing field by not competeing myself. I am looking forward to enjoying the night.

Thanks, Will- it's really a great cause. It looks to be a great event!

Deb

All,

Two additional restaurants have joined: Majid's and Zanzabar
And several others are trying to finalize.

If you are contemplating competing, you'd better act fast- we had to turn away a number of contestants for Shrimp & Grits....

Deb

Here's everyone I have heard from so far:

Theatre Square Marketplace
Equus/Jack’s
NA Exchange
Selena's
Captain’s Quarters
Shady Lane Cafe
Browning's
Lilly's
At Your Service Catering
BBC 4th St.
Zanzibar
Julep's Catering
ACF/KY Chapter
Majid's
and lastly I have heard from Chef Greg Williams of ChickiePoo's in Madison, IN who wants to drive down and participate for the cause as well.
That's 15 different chowders!
Just 1 more spot to fill to have a full dance card!

Chef Bret Donaldson forwarded this NPR article to me and I thought it made for quite interesting reading on the subject as there are many parrells to what we are doing.
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/19/133024115 ... pad&f=1053
the following are excepts from the full text

Chowders Are Winners On Winter Table
by Domenica Marchetti

NPR - January 19, 2011
I've always enjoyed a good bowl of chowder. My father was born and raised in Rhode Island, so perhaps my fondness stems from that New England connection. But it wasn't until a few years ago that I started to become obsessed.

I started researching the origins of chowder and wrote an article about it.
That's when I heard from Sean Smith. Smith is a fluvial geomorphologist for the state of Maryland (he studies rivers). He, too, has New England roots, in Massachusetts, and loves chowder. Really loves it. So much so that for the past eight years he has organized a chowder-making competition, which takes place every February at the Severn Sailing Association in Annapolis, Md. Thanks to Smith, I have been in the enviable position of being a judge for the contest for the past two years, and plan to return this February (right, Sean?).
The competition is informal -- it's held in the association's clubhouse, a comfortable room with a large hearth and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the harbor -- but it is also fierce. Contestants arrive in the early evening, armed with slow cookers brimming with chowder. The pots -- there were 17 last year, and Smith expects even more this year -- are arranged on several long tables pushed together buffet-style. The judges taste and evaluate; then everyone gets to dig in while a jazz band provides entertainment. Winners are chosen in the "classic" category and "innovative" category. A people's choice winner is also declared.

The question is: What, exactly, makes a winning -- or, for that matter, a true -- chowder? The dish hovers somewhere between a soup and a stew but is really neither. In his book 50 Chowders, author Jasper White calls chowder "a dish unique unto itself." Its origins are uncertain. It's possible that the word "chowder" comes from the French word chaudiere, or caldron, the vessel in which the dish was cooked. Or, as White also points out, it may derive from the word "jowter," meaning fishmonger, a term that was used in coastal regions of England as early as the 16th century. White speculates that chowder is one of those dishes that "occurred simultaneously in many parts of the world."

Early versions were frugal compositions of pork fat, onions, potatoes, fish, dry biscuits or flour for thickening and herbs, layered in a pot and cooked in water, with a little milk added toward the end of cooking. New York's famous (or perhaps infamous) Manhattan clam chowder, notable because it contains tomatoes, did not make an appearance until the 1800s. Some traditional chowders, such as Rhode Island clear clam chowder, contain no milk or cream, and others, such as Nantucket veal chowder and classic ham and corn chowder, feature meat rather than seafood.

At its most basic, Sean Smith told me, a good chowder must contain salt (usually but not always salt pork) and starch in the form of potatoes or corn. And it needs to have a good stock -- at least to produce a winning chowder. The stock should bespeak the ingredients in the chowder. Thus, crab chowder is best made with crab stock, and ham and corn chowder should ideally be made with ham stock. The best chowder, Smith said, is one "that has a taste that makes you remember it, but doesn't have single ingredients that knock you out with a punch."
"Dull chowders in restaurants are often victims of too little reverence for a good stock preparation," he added. "There often seem to be attempts to cover up stock problems with heavy cream, but it just compounds the problem by limiting taste."
Also, Smith noted emphatically, "true chowders have chunks." Those thick, pasty concoctions with bits of seafood here and there, which no doubt many of us have been subjected to at touristy dockside restaurants, do not qualify as chowder and indeed are more like bisque.

The great thing about chowder is that it is so wonderfully accommodating. Shearin puts edamame in her vegetarian chowder. I put fennel in my seafood chowder. Somehow it works. I dare say you could probably even toss in some tomatoes if you are inclined. But I wouldn't advise it if winning a competition

Enjoyable article. Thanks Dan and Bret for sharing.