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chowder

  (chou'dər) pronunciation
n.
  1. A thick soup containing fish or shellfish, especially clams, and vegetables, such as potatoes and onions, in a milk or tomato base.
  2. A soup similar to this seafood dish: corn chowder.

[French chaudière, stew pot, from Old French, from Late Latin caldāria. See cauldron.]


 
 

Thick soup made from shellfish (especially clams) or other fish, with pork or bacon. Originally French, now mainly New England and Newfoundland. The name derives from the French chaudière, the large cauldron in which it is prepared.

 

A thick, chunky seafood soup, of which clam chowder is the most well known. The name comes from the French chaudière, a caldron in which fishermen made their stews fresh from the sea. New England-style chowder is made with milk or cream, Manhattan-style with tomatoes. Chowder can contain any of several varieties of seafood and vegetables. The term is also used to describe any thick, rich soup containing chunks of food (for instance, corn chowder).

 
Word Origin: chowder

Origin: 1751

It begins with the cooking pot, called in French a chaudière. Perhaps New Englanders got it from trade or military expeditions to French Canadian outposts up north like Louisbourg (see Covered Wagon 1745). The idea is to toss in whatever you have on hand, particularly seafood, salt pork, vegetables, and often crackers and milk, to make a thick hot stew or soup.

In 1751 we find that chowder is already the subject of poetry. On September 2 of that year, rhymed "Directions for making a chouder" appeared in the Boston Evening Post: "First lay some Onions to keep the Pork from burning, Because in Chouder there can be no turning."

A century later, the great New England orator and statesman Daniel Webster (1782-1852) had his own recipe for chowder. According to a 1931 cookbook, it supposedly went like this: "Take a cod of ten pounds, well cleaned, leaving on the skin. Cut into pieces one and a half pounds thick, preserving the head whole. Take one and a half pounds of clear, fat, salt pork, cut in thin slices. Do the same with twelve potatoes. Take the largest pot you have. Try out the pork first; then take out the pieces of pork, leaving in the drippings. Add to that three parts of water, a layer of fish, so as to cover the bottom of the pot; next a layer of potatoes, then two tablespoons of salt, 1 teaspoon of pepper, then the pork, another layer of fish, and the remainder of the potatoes."

Fill with water to cover the ingredients and boil for twenty-five minutes. Then add a quart of boiling milk and ten hard crackers, split and dipped in cold water. After five more minutes of boiling, "the chowder is then ready and will be first rate if you have followed the directions."



 
stew of fish or shellfish with potatoes, onions, and pork (usually salt pork), thickened with crumbled hard bread. The name chowder seems to have originated from the French word chaudière (a large heavy pot used by fishermen to cook soups and stews). The name probably was carried to the French Canadian coasts and traveled from there to New England (noted for its clam chowder) and then south. Each locality on the eastern coast of the United States has its favorite recipe, based on the kinds of fish and vegetables available. The name is extended to include a mixture of vegetables only.


 
Word Tutor: chowder
pronunciation

IN BRIEF: A thick soup made of fish or clams with onions, potatoes, milk, or tomatoes.

pronunciation New England clam chowder is made with a white sauce.

 
Wikipedia: chowder
New England clam chowder.
Enlarge
New England clam chowder.

Chowder is any of a variety of soups, enriched with salt pork fatback and thickened with flour, or more traditionally with crushed ship biscuit or saltine crackers, and milk. To some Americans, 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 (maize) kernels. The most accepted etymology for the word chowder comes from the pot in which it is cooked. The French word chaudière translated means "a pot," developed from chaud, "hot" (also related to the Latin Calderia and English Cauldron). The word "chowder" 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).

Fish chowder, along with corn and clam chowder, continues to enjoy popularity in New England. Seafood chowder is a traditional and popular dish in Ireland.

Chowder competitions

Newport, Rhode Island's Great Chowder Cook-Off, held each year since 1981, is the world's largest and oldest chowder competition.[1] The 2003 event was featured in a Food Network documentary.[2][3]

Southern Illinois Chowder

The meaning of chowder in Southern Illinois has a completely different meaning from that of the New England meaning of chowder. In Edwards County, Illinois the meaning of chowder is of French-Indian origin and means not only the actual chowder which is eaten, but also the social gathering at which it is made and eaten.. It is very popular in the southern part of the United States and is believed to have been brought to this area by the earliest settlers, or "backwoodsmen'. Traditionally, "chowder time" starts when the tomatoes ripen and closes with the first heavy frost.

Chowder is usually cooked outside in large black kettles or cauldrons, ranging in size from 20 to 70 gallons. The various ingredients used in making chowder are added to the boiling water, according to their time for cooking, so that all of the ingredients are done at the same time.Chowder is usually done when the ingredients have cooked up into a fairly thick soup usually four or more hours. The kettles must be stirred almost continuously while cooking so that the chowder does not scorch. The stirring is accomplished with the use of a wooden blade from eighteen to twenty-four inches long and six to eight inches wide that has several holes bored in it. To the bade is attached a handle at right angles near the end of it. The stirring device is commonly referred as a "paddle".

In 1958 the Edwards County, Illinois County Commissioners proclaimed Edwards County, Illinois as "Chowder Capital of the World".

References to chowder in popular culture

  • As Springfield Meatloaf, in at least one episode of The Simpsons. The pronunciation of the word "chowder" (properly pronounced in a Boston accent as "chowdah") also served as an important plot element in another episode, The Boy Who Knew Too Much. In another Simpsons episode, Homer while praying to God thanks God "for giving us two kinds of Clam Chowder".
  • In the song, c. 1898 by George L. Giefer "Who Threw the Overalls in Mistress Murphy's Chowder," which survives primarily (slightly corrupted) as a repeated children's chant "Who put the overalls in Mrs. Murphy's chowder?/Nobody answered so we asked a little louder." Lyrics at [4], [5], [6], tune at [7], 1901 audio recording at [8].
  • In the slang word "chowderhead." Wentworth and Flexner: "A stupid person; one who uses poor judgment. Since c. 1835." (One of many expressions analogizing a head to a soft, mushy substance).
  • In the long-running comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, the term "chowderhead" is used several times by the main characters, often in the pair's arguments.
  • Chowder appears in Chapter 15 of "Moby-Dick". Clam and cod chowder are served to Ishmael and Qeequeg in Hosea Hussey's Try Pots Inn at Nantucket the evening before Ishmael sets foot on the Pequod for the first time.[9]
  • In Fight Club Marla Singer orders the clam chowder. Knowing that many of the members 'pollute' the food, the narrator asks the waiter for "clean food please", to which the reply is "In that case sir may I advise against the lady having the clam chowder."
* Boston blogger and broadcaster —fill-in for Hugh Hewitt— Dean Barnett is known as "chowdah" for his thick regional accent

see Wikipedia entry for Dean Barnett [10] [11]

References

  • Wentworth, Harold and Stuart Berg Flexner, 1967, Dictionary of American Slang, Thomas Y. Crowell, NY. ISBN 0-690-23602-6 ("Chowderhead" definition, in use since c. 1835).
  • Robert's Guide To Eating Chowder
  • Edwards County Historical Historical Society, Albion, Illinois, A History of Edwards County, Illinois Volume One 1980

External links

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Translations: Translations for: Chowder

Dansk (Danish)
n. - fiskesuppe

Nederlands (Dutch)
soort vissoep

Français (French)
n. - soupe épaisse de palourdes

Deutsch (German)
n. - m. Mischgericht aus Fisch, Muscheln, Fleisch, Kartoffeln u. Gemüse

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (μαγειρ.) κακκαβιά, ψαρόσουπα

Italiano (Italian)
zuppa di pesce

Português (Portuguese)
n. - tipo de sopa (f) (Culin.)

Русский (Russian)
густая похлебка

Español (Spanish)
n. - sopa de pescado, estofado de viandas variadas

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - chowder (sorts soppa)

中文(简体) (Chinese (Simplified))
杂脍

中文(繁體) (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 雜膾

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 잡탕의 일종

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - チャウダー

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) حسا من سمك و بطاطا و بصل‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מרק סמיך, מרק דגים, מרק תירס, תפוחי אדמה ובצל‬


 
 

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Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Food and Nutrition. A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition. Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2005 by A. E. Bender and D. A. Bender. All rights reserved.  Read more
Food Lover's Companion. Food Lover's Companion. Copyright © 2001 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Word Origin. America in So Many Words, by David K.Barnhart and Allan A. Metcalf. Copyright © 1997 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
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