Bob's Conch Chowder
Pick your amounts and your heat - cayenne, Pickapeppa red hot sauce, Cajun seasoning, or (good) medium or hot picante sauce. Variations: add corn, or boil some tripe, discard the water, boil again, dice small and add with the conch.
Ingredients
- 1 lb Shrimp, shelled and cut bite-size, shells reserved for stock
- Carrot, 1 broken up for the stock, plus 3 shredded
- Celery, 1 rib for the stock, plus 3 or 4 thinly sliced
- Onion, 1/2 for the stock (with the brown peels from the others), plus 2 diced
- 2 tbsp Old Bay seasoning, 1 for the stock, 1 for the chowder
- 2 tbsp Olive oil, about
- 1 tsp Bacon fat
- 3 oz Salt pork, about, diced
- 2/3 cup Green bell pepper, 1/2 to 2/3 cup, diced
- 6 clove Garlic, about, minced
- 1 tbsp Flour, or so
- 1 can Stewed tomatoes, 14-ounce
- Tomato sauce, 1/2 to 2/3 can
- 2/3 cup White wine, 1/2 to 2/3 cup
- 4 Bay leaf
- 1 tbsp Dried thyme, or preferably fresh sprigs
- 1 tsp Dried basil
- 2 tsp Poultry seasoning
- 1 tbsp Paprika
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 3 can Chicken broth
- 1 cup Conch, ground, or more
- Black pepper, freshly ground
- Kosher salt
- Cayenne pepper, or other heat, to taste
- Potato, diced, your amount
- Butter, a pat
- Potato flakes, instant mashed, to thicken if needed
- Clam, minced, with or without the juice
- Scallop, bay scallops or crawfish meat, optional
Directions
- Simmer the shrimp shells in a saucepot of water with a broken-up carrot and celery rib, about 1/2 onion (and the onion peels) and 1 tablespoon Old Bay to make shrimp stock.
- Heat the olive oil and bacon fat in a stockpot and brown the salt pork. Add the diced onions, shredded carrots, celery and green pepper and sweat until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic with the flour and sweat a little longer.
- Add the stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, wine, bay leaves, thyme, basil, Old Bay, poultry seasoning, paprika, Worcestershire, broth, conch, shrimp stock to taste, pepper, salt and your choice of heat. Simmer.
- Add the potatoes with a pat of butter and cook down as you like, thickening with instant potato flakes if needed.
- At the end, add the shrimp and minced clams (clam juice can stand in for the shrimp stock), plus bay scallops or crawfish if you like. Don't overcook the seafood.