What's for Dinner, Mon., Jan. 27, 2025

[chowmama]

6. New England clam chowder and warmed French bread

The chowder is a recipe I've been working on, using my pantry and home preservation as much as possible. Home canned potatoes, home cured salt pork, canned clams from the store, milk and some onion. It only takes about half an hour to make and is pretty cheap.

Stocking up, I've been trying new ideas for canning, freezing, etc. Well, they're new to me. I do a small batch, use some of it, and decide if I'll keep it up. Canned potatoes are surprisingly useful. I hope we never get to the point where potatoes are unaffordable, but having firm cooked potatoes ready to go at any minute is pretty neat. They don't taste tinny and they last a long time, whereas I usually go to the pantry to find out that my fresh potatoes have one or two that are soft/slimy/stinky and the rest have all sprouted like a 1950's SF monster movie.

I've been curing a little salt pork once a year for a while, usually just because I love it in baked beans. As a kid, I'd put dibs on the chunk from the B&M jar. Oddly enough, nobody ever fought me for it. I was a strange child.