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Chowder queries


Plantes Vertes

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Some friends plan to open a market stall selling chowder of various sorts. I see that this could be popular but a few obstacles occurred to me.

1. Most of the recipes will contain seafood and fish. Normally you would add these ingredients at different times according to the length of cooking required. Will it be possible to cook batches of the stew

- with the fish and seafood? (That really doesn't seem feasible to me as they will quickly overcook.) Are there some sea ingredients that will survive long cooking? (Not literally...)

- without the fish and seafood, adding them separately to smaller batches? How long could the completed soup hold up to simmering?

2. How long could the soup be held on a simmer without the seafood?

3. Are some varieties of chowder more suitable for this sort of service?

4. Are there any non-fish chowders that are not corn chowder (not an ideal recipe for midwinter in the UK...)?

All thoughts welcome.

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New England cream based chowders may not hold up very well,even if the seafood is added at order time.

Maybe keep a vegetable/potato stock on simmer, and refrigerate cream and seafood until the soup is ordered, then quickly combine all three over heat.

The basic New York chowder (tomatoes, stock and vegetbles) should be fine on low simmer for hours, then add seafood at the end.

Basic broth for miso soup will stay stable and clear on a bare simmer, then add garnishes and noodles. Pho would go together the same way, but the stock is more ambitious than dashi.

Edited by jayt90 (log)
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I know someone who makes big batches of "New England" style clam chowder and freezes it in large bags.

It actually defrosts surprisingly well, so that might be one way to go.

depending on how busy the stall ends up, I could envision having one pot warm and defrosted for immediate service, and a bag or two still sealed in an immersion circulator being kept warm.

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You can keep any chowder at low heat for a few hours assuming they are made fresh every day. I do recommend adding cream at the last minute to milk chowders, and do not add thickener such as crackers. You could also use a 2-pot system, transferring a gallon at a time of base to a smaller pot and adding fish, with the expectation that it will be sold within the hour. It will be perfect.

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