Now the hard question remains. What soup is worthy of signing off with? I was having trouble picking just one, and was considering workarounds like “soups where the toppings are the star” and “meatball soups from around the world.” All the while, it was not lost on me what so many of you were clamoring for in the messages you sent us.
Greetings, Winter Soup Club. A sad announcement: This is the last week our cozy club convenes, as this newsletter draws to a close (for now, at least). Soup season is almost over, and spring will soon be in the air. Before you know it, we’ll be putting away the Dutch ovens and firing up the grills. Writing a newsletter about soup has been every bit as comforting as making and eating soup, and that is largely to do with you, fellow soup aficionados. Your feedback, heartwarming stories, personal soup memories, and kind correspondence have made our hearts as full as our soup pots these past weeks. Thank you for being wonderful.
Advertisement
Chowder.
Get Winter Soup Club A six-week series featuring soup recipes and cozy vibes, plus side dishes and toppings, to get us all through the winter. Enter Email Sign Up
A confession: I am not wild for chowder the way I am for pozole, ramen, curried squash, French onion, black bean, matzoh ball, laksa, gazpacho, harira…
It’s because I like a thin, brothy chowder, and I’m often served a thick, gloppy one. (I quite like clear, clam-focused Rhode Island chowder; when it comes to zesty red chowders, I prefer a Portuguese version flavored with chouriço to Manhattan. What are your feelings here?)
It’s also because, long ago, I went to visit some friends at their alarmingly unkempt apartment and discovered a bowl of uneaten canned clam chowder behind a couch, spoon sticking straight up from what had turned into clam cement over the days? weeks? months? it had been back there. Ever since, I have been suspicious of chowder. Then I’ll get a good version, and I remember how glorious it can be: faintly oceanic, smoky like a campfire, lightly creamy, and filled with tender potatoes and plenty of seafood. Chives or corn kernels might perk up the bowl; oyster crackers should dot its surface.
Advertisement
So here we are at chowder as our final chapter. I’ll tell you who persuaded me this was the way to go. It was Herman Melville, author of “Moby Dick.” Or maybe it was Gordon Hamersley, chef-owner of longtime South End restaurant Hamersley’s Bistro and occasional Globe columnist. It was a one-two Melville-Hamersley punch. Let’s say it was Gorman Hamerville and call it a day.
When Hamersley learned of this soup newsletter, he reminded me of a column he wrote for the Globe back in 2015. “It’s SO EASY AND GOOD,” he texted of the soup he featured. It also has one of the best names ever: cullen skink.
“Cullen Skink is not the name of a Scottish punk singer from Glasgow. Nor is it something the dog just rolled in,” he wrote, unbeatably. “Cullen skink is a fantastic Scottish chowder-like soup with a smoky flavor, made in most fishing villages along the North Sea.” It’s made with smoked fish, clams, leeks, potatoes, and cream. How could it not be amazing?
Then I went out to walk the dog and ponder my soup newsletter choices. While walking, I’ve been listening to the audiobook of “Moby Dick,” a project I imagine will take me well into my dotage. I never read the book, and my chances of staying awake to do so are not great. So this is my solution.
Advertisement
I’m walking along, freezing cold, and Ishmael and Queequeg are coming ashore in Nantucket, also freezing cold. Where do they head to warm up? A hotel called the Try Pots, a most instructive moniker. When the proprietress seats them and asks, “Clam or Cod?,” my fellow chowder agnostics’ expectations are low — until the steaming dish comes to the table.
Exclaims Ishmael: “Oh! sweet friends, hearken to me. It was made of small juicy clams, scarcely bigger than hazel nuts, mixed with pounded ship biscuits, and salted pork cutup into little flakes! the whole enriched with butter, and plentifully seasoned with pepper and salt. Our appetites being sharpened by the frosty voyage, and in particular, Queequeg seeing his favourite fishing food before him, and the chowder being surpassingly excellent, we despatched it with great expedition.”
I was hungry, and very cold, and convinced.
Gordon Hamersley’s recipe for cullen skink with clams, leeks, and potatoes. The Boston Globe/Globe Freelance
CULLEN SKINK | BY GORDON HAMERSLEY
SERVINGS: (4) PRINT RECIPE
SOUP INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium leek, diced, soaked in water, and drained
1 medium Yukon Gold potato, diced
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
Tiny pinch crushed red pepper
1 cup bottled clam juice
¼ cup vegetable or chicken stock
8 count neck or littleneck clams
6 ounces boneless smoked haddock
1 cup heavy cream
2 scallions, trimmed and chopped
Grated rind of ½ lemon
Advertisement
Salt, to taste
SOUP INSTRUCTIONS
1. In a soup pot over medium heat, heat the butter until it bubbles. Add the leek, potato, thyme, and red pepper. Cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes.
2. Add the clam juice and vegetable or chicken stock. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and cover the pot. Simmer for 6 minutes, or until the leeks and potatoes are tender. Add the clams and cook for 5 minutes more, or until they just open.
3. Add the haddock, cream, scallions, lemon rind, and a pinch of salt. Stir lightly to combine, being careful not to break up the fish. Turn off the heat and cover the pan. Let the mixture sit for 2 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add more salt, if you like.
4. Using a slotted spoon, divide the fish, clams, and vegetables among 4 warm bowls. Pour the creamy liquid over the top.
Pair it with:
Sea shanties
“Moby Dick,” by Herman Melville (or, you know, listen to the audiobook )
“Blow the Man Down,” a dark comedy/thriller set in a Maine fishing village
What to serve with Cullen Skink and other chowders:
Scottish oatcakes (if you prefer, you can leave out the cranberries in this recipe when pairing with chowder) ( Boston Globe
Toasted baguette
Saltines
Homemade oyster crackers ( Serious Eats
Rosemary-scented Italian bread ( Boston Globe
SOUP TIPS
This recipe serves 4 as an appetizer. If you want big bowls for a main course, plan on its serving 2.
It’s a little finicky to soak and drain the leeks, but it’s a step worth taking. Leeks often have sneaky dirt trapped between their layers, and nobody wants gritty chowder.
Before adding the clams to the pot, rinse under cold running water, scrub with a brush, and rinse again. Discard any clams that are open.
Instead of haddock, you can substitute another smoked white fish or shrimp.
The recipe for the excellent chowder at Eventide, which has restaurants in Portland and Boston, calls for kombu in the broth and toasted nori as a garnish. Seaweeds are a good way to impart oceanic oomph to a chowder, and a useful ingredient in making vegetarian chowders.
If you’d like to add smokiness to a chowder without using bacon or smoked fish, try smoked paprika, canned chipotles en adobo, or a smoked cheese like gouda. You can also grill the vegetables you’re using before adding them to the pot.
During the peak days of summer, buy extra ears of corn at the farmers’ market, cut off the kernels, and freeze these for making chowder and other corn-y fare down the road. Never throw out corn cobs; freeze them to use later for corn stock, perfect in corn chowder. When you’re ready, just put them in a pot with water and simmer for a few hours, then strain. (Add salt, spices, and aromatics as you see fit.)
Devra First can be reached at devra.first@globe.com. Follow her @devrafirst.