Rhode Island Fish Chowder

Hello, everyone!

I apologize for neglecting this blog again--

have I mentioned how stressful this semester has been?

... last one as an undergraduate, and taking 18 credits

has become a little overwhelming for me! Even my 

Spring break was spent mostly reading class material
(and getting laryngitis!)... So, as you can see, I am beat.

But, to be honest, what really keeps me going is the fact
that I'll be graduating in a couple of months. Oh! and on 

the ferry to beautiful Martha's Vineyard in June...

so all will be just fine, I think ♥

Anywho, in New England news, I found
a delicious traditional recipe that I've
been dying to share with you all...

Rhode Island Fish Chowder!
(can't you just eat that name?)

The recipes to follow (I've added a cracker recipe
in order to compliment your soup!) are from
the 1920s and 30s, and have surely maintained
their stomach-appeal throughout the years...

Enjoy!

Afternoon Tea Cracker

(Boston Cooking School Cook Book, 1936 Edition)

Sift and mix dry ingredients:

 1 cup bread flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
Cut butter in with pastry blender or tips of fingers
½ cup butter
Add milk to make stiff dough
3 Tablespoons milk

“Toss on floured board, and pat and roll ¼ inch thick. Shape with round cutter dipped in flour, arrange on buttered cooky sheet, and bake 10 minutes in hot oven (400 degrees). Split while hot, return to oven, and bake until a golden brown. These crackers will keep for weeks without crumbling.”

Rhode Island Fish Chowder

(Boston Cooking School Magazine, Nov. 1920)

"In the bottom of an iron kettle fry five or six slices of fat salt pork, cut into small pieces, until it is crisp and brown. Cut up four pounds of either fresh codfish or sea bass into two-inch cubes, put into the kettle and cover with thin-sliced streaky bacon. Over this place a layer of onions, also very thin-sliced, and handful of chopped parsley, and a pinch of summer savory. Next put on a layer of Boston crackers, split and soaked in warm water until soft but not broken.

Proceed by repeating these layers until all the fish is used; the crackers for the top layer should be' thickly buttered. Add cold water to cover, and cook gently for one hour. If the water boils away so that the top crackers get dry, add boiling water. Remove the solid parts of the chowder carefully with a skimmer into the serving dish, and thicken the liquid in the pot with two tablespoonfuls of flour and two of butter, rubbed together. Let boil up once and pour over chowder. Serve with sliced lemons, pickles and stewed tomatoes."

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  A taste of New England in your very own kitchen!
... I like the sound of that.

♥