Monday's Dinner-New England Clam Chowder

I told you yesterday that I really like to incorporate cooking into our school day, especially when studying history or geography. Today's cooking lesson was New England Clam Chowder. Our recipe comes form Exploring History through Simple Recipes: Cooking on Nineteenth-Century Whaling Ships. Whalers in the 1800s would look forward to returning home for this dish. This is the most traditional New England meal. The word chowder in New England meant both a social event and a meal. This recipe is much thinner than the canned variety, but was good. We served in typical New England fashion with biscuits on the side.

New England Clam Chowder
small onion
1/4 pound salt pork
2 medium potatoes
1 1/2 cups water
1 6 1/2 ounce can minced clams in juice
1 8 ounce bottle of clam juice
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups milk

1. Cut salt pork into 1 inch pieces.
2. Peel and chop onion into 1/4 inch pieces. Set aside.
3. In saucepan, cook salt pork pieces over medium heat. Turn pieces with spatula and cook 10 to 12 minutes until browned.
4. Peel potatoes. Slice 1/8 inch thick. Set aside.
5. Add chopped onion to the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
6. Add potato slices to saucepan. Cover with 1 1/2 cups water. Cover and cook over low heat 10-12 minutes until potatoes are very tender.
7. Add can of clams. Do not drain. Add clam juice and 1/8 tsp. of pepper.
8. Cook over medium heat until steamy.
9. Add 1 1/2 cups milk. Heat 5 minutes over medium heat.