Fishing Recipes:
New England Fish Chowder

As far as fishing recipes go, this is one you really need to try.

The fish that I catch and do not eat the same day that they are caught are frozen for future use. The cleaned and dressed fish are wrapped in either wax paper or clear plastic wrap, and then vacuum-sealed in the handy Ziploc bags that come with an air pump to remove all the air. I mark the bags, indicating where, what type of fish and when it was caught.

Well, after a time period in the freezer, you really need to eat these fish because they will not stay forever in the deep freeze. Here is a perfect way over the cold months of the year to use some of the older inventory: New England Fish Chowder.

For this fishing recipe, I started with seven cleaned and dressed trout. I have seen other fishing recipes for this kind of chowder using other kinds of fish, so feel free to mix it up with bass or panfish.

You will want to remove the skin and fillet the trout. To remove the skin, cut a seam through the skin down the back and cut a bit of the skin away from the backbone at the neck. Then, just pull the skin back toward the tail. Use your fillet knife to cut the fillets away from the backbone, working from the tail to the head area.

You will be left with a plate of fillets and the trout carcasses, which you will put along with the skin into a stockpot.

Fill the stockpot with enough salted cold water to cover and bring to a boil, and then simmer covered.

In a larger pot, cut up some bacon (one that is not smoked if you can find it). Other New England chowder fishing recipes call for the use of salt pork, so try that if you can find it. Slowly brown the bacon or salt pork over low heat.

Cut up half a large onion, some carrots, and about three medium skinned potatoes into pieces small enough that they would fit on a spoon.

When the bacon is browned, remove the bits and reserve.

Take a look at your simmering fish stock. Remove any scum that has come to the top with a spoon.

Put your chopped onions into the large pot containing the bacon fat and slowly simmer and sweat the onions until they are translucent. Do not brown them! Then put in your carrots and potatoes with the onions and enough boiling water to cover. Cover the pot and cook 10 minutes until the carrots and potatoes are almost tender.

Cut your trout fillets into pieces small enough to fit on a soup spoon and place in your pot with the vegetables. Simmer another 10 minutes longer.

Next, we are going to strain the fish stock, reserving the trout backbones with meat and discarding the skins. While you are doing this, place a pint of half-and-half in a pot over medium heat. Scald the half-and-half, being careful not to boil or let burn on the bottom. Remove the fish bodies from the stockpot and reserve. Take the fish stock and filter it into a bowl or pot. I use a series of coffee-maker filters inside a strainer to get a nice clear stock. You will need to change the filters to speed up the filtering process.

Pour the clarified fish stock and the scalded half-and-half into your large pot containing the trout fillets and vegetables.

We want to practice conservancy with the beautiful trout that Nature has blessed us with, so take the fish backbones you reserved and run your thumb down along the backbone to remove that meat and put into your large pot with the soup. Do not bother trying to remove any of the meat clinging to the ribcage. You will only wind up incorporating tiny bones into your soup. After adding this remaining meat, season to taste and remove from the low heat.

This recipe should yield around two quarts of chowder. Let the soup rest overnight in the refrigerator so the flavors can meld. Reheat individual servings in the microwave (or for larger servings heat in a double-boiler). Top each serving with a pat of butter and the bacon bits that you had reserved. If you want to get fancy, add a sprig of fresh parsley.

Of all the fishing recipes for chowder that I have seen, this is the best. This is an excellent soup!