Note 74 — INDEX

No. 74. Fish Chowder.—No fish chowder should have bones in it; to avoid this, dress, wash and cut up your fish and put it on to boil in cold water, without salt; as soon as it is cooked enough—say ten minutes—for the flesh to be separated from the bones, take it up and remove all bones; put the head, bones, etc., back into the water, and boil until water is wanted. In the meantime you should fry in the bottom of your chowder kettle some small dice-shaped pieces of salt pork, say one quarter pound of pork for every five pounds of fish; when the pork is all tried out and nicely browned, but not burnt, put in some thinly sliced onions in quantity to suit, and cook these until yellow, not brown; now put in one quart of cold water (for five pounds of fish,) strain the bone water and put that in, then some sliced potatoes, season with salt and pepper, and when the potatoes are nearly done put in the fish; boil one quart of milk and add to the chowder; now try it and see if it is seasoned all right; let all come to a boil, pour into a tureen and serve. A common way is to put a layer of crackers on top of the chowder when the milk is put in; but many prefer the crackers served separately. Clam water added to a fish chowder is a great improvement.