CHOWDERS
Fresh fish or clam chowder and oyster stew are good dishes for school lunches in localities where fresh sea food is abundant. Dried and salt fish or vegetables alone may also be used as the flavoring in chowders that children will find attractive and wholesome. The ingredients are milk, whole or skim; a fatty substance, which is usually salt pork, though butter may be used; potatoes or crackers, often both, and in addition to these one of the following: Fish, either fresh or salt; green corn, fresh or canned; parsnips, vegetable oysters, kohl-rabi or celery. A chowder consisting mainly of milk, potatoes and crackers, and flavored with a little salt codfish is perhaps the most economical of these dishes.
SALT CODFISH CHOWDER
½ lb salt codfish, 1½ oz or 1½″ cube fat salt pork, 1 tbp chopped onion, 3 c cooked potatoes, or diced carrots and potatoes, 1 qt milk, 8 soda crackers (about 2 oz).
Break the codfish into small pieces, soak it in lukewarm water until it is soft and the salt has been removed; cut the pork into small pieces and cook it until a delicate brown, adding the onions during the last part of the cooking; to the pork and onions add the potatoes; cover with water and boil them until tender; add the milk and the fish and reheat; add the crackers shortly before the chowder is served.
POTATO CHOWDER
¼ lb salt pork, diced, 1 tbp chopped onion, 6 medium-sized potatoes, sliced, 1 tbp butter or other fat, 1 tbp flour, 1 pt milk, 1 pt water, 1 tsp salt.
Fry the pork and onion together until both are a delicate brown; put a layer of sliced potatoes into a kettle then a layer of onion and pork, and sprinkle with salt; repeat this until those materials are all used; pour over them the grease from the pan in which the pork and onion were fried, and add the water; cover and simmer for 20 min, or until the potatoes are tender; thicken the milk with the flour mixed with the fat and pour it over the potatoes; stir carefully, so as not to break the potatoes; serve very hot.
LOBSTER CHOWDER
2 c lobster meat, ¼ c onion, ¼ c salt pork fat, 2 tbp butter, 4 c milk, salt, cayenne, blade of mace, 1 c hot cream, 2 tbp flour.
Cook onion in salt pork fat; melt butter; add flour, milk and seasonings and cook in db with lobster cut in cubes 20 min; add strained salt pork fat, hot cream and serve.
CLAM CHOWDER
1½ doz clams chopped fine, 1 c water, 3 large potatoes, cut into dice, 2 slices pork or bacon, cut into dice, 1 slice onion, 1 qt milk, 2 level tbp butter, 2 level tbp flour, 1 tsp chopped parsley, 1 level tsp salt, pepper to season, 8 crackers.
Fry out the pork or bacon and fry the onion in the fat; add the clam liquor, water and potatoes; cook until tender; season, and add the clams and milk; cook 10 min longer, then thicken with the butter and flour creamed together; pour the chowder over the crackers and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
CORN CHOWDER
1 c fresh corn, 1½″ cube salt pork, diced, 1 onion, sliced, 1 qt potatoes, sliced, 1 c milk or cream, salt and pepper, 8 crackers.
Fry the salt pork; add the onion, and cook until the onion is tender; boil the potatoes 5 min in 1 qt of boiling water; add the fat, and cook until the potatoes are soft; add the corn and milk and bring to the scalding point; add the butter and seasoning; pour over the crackers and serve hot.
MILK STEW
1 qt milk, 1 c raw potatoes, cut into small pieces, 2 tbp butter or bacon fat, 1 c salt codfish, cut into small pieces or just enough to flavor the stew.
Soak the fish in lukewarm water until it is soft and the salt removed; cook the potatoes in water until tender; drain them; add the milk and codfish, and bring to the boiling point; add the butter and salt to taste.
In place of the codfish, any other salt or fresh fish, oysters, or a little chipped beef may be used. Or the fish may be omitted and the soup made savory and palatable by adding a few drops of onion juice, or a vegetable cut into small pieces and cooked thoroughly.
VEGETABLE CHOWDER
4 potatoes, 3 carrots, 3 onions, 1 pt tomatoes, 2 tsp salt, 2 tbp fat or a small piece salt pork, 3 tbp flour, 2 c skim milk.
Cut the potatoes and carrots into small pieces; add water to cover, and cook 20 min; brown the chopped onion in the fat; add the flour and the tomatoes, and when thickened, add to the vegetables; heat the milk and combine with the vegetables just before serving.
LAMB STEW
2 lb breast of lamb, 2 c boiling water, 2 c potato cubes, 2 tbp butter or pork fat, ½ c sliced onion, 2 tbp rice, 1 c strained tomato, salt and pepper.
Brown the onions in hot fat; cut meat in 2″ pieces; add to onions; cover with hot water and simmer 2 hr; parboil potatoes; add rice when meat has cooked 1 hr; add parboiled potatoes ½ hr before serving; add tomato 10 min before serving; season with salt and pepper. The tomato may be omitted and 1 c of water substituted.
SHEPHERD’S PIE
1 lb chopped cooked meat, 2 lb mashed potatoes, 1 sliced onion, salt and pepper, few grains paprika, 1 tbp butter, ½ c water, ½ tsp meat extract.
Fry the onion in the butter; put into a pudding dish a layer of the potato, a little seasoning, a layer of the meat, then onion, pour over the water, in which the meat extract has been dissolved, and continue the layers until the dish is full; covering over the whole with a layer of potatoes; make the potatoes rough on the top with a fork; put on a few pieces of butter and bake until browned; serve hot.
TOMATO FISH CHOWDER
4 lb cod or haddock, or 1 lb dry salt fish, 4 c potatoes, cut in cubes, 1½″ cube fat salt pork, 1 sliced onion, 2½ c stewed and strained tomatoes, 3 tbp butter, ⅔ c cracker crumbs, salt and pepper.
Buy a whole fish, but have it skinned; cut off head and tail and remove backbone; cut fish in small pieces and set aside; put head, tail and backbone into 2 c cold water, bring to a boil and cook 20 min; cut pork into small pieces; try out; add onion and cook 5 min; parboil potatoes 5 min, then drain and add to fat with 2 c boiling water, also the liquor drained from the bones and the pieces of fish; cover and simmer 10 min; add tomatoes, salt, pepper and butter; just before serving, add cracker crumbs. If dry salt fish is used, freshen it by soaking several hours in 3 or 4 changes of warm water.