The winter has bitten and it is a bit grim outside, the freeze is overwhelming and our thoughts naturally wander into daydreams of sunshine and tropical beaches.
We suspect too few of us would imagine Canada, Scandinavia or even Northern France, whenever the word beach is mentioned. And yet it is a well-known fact that these countries do have an impressive coastline. We should be keeping it real here and admit that the beach in the winter is less inviting, to say the least.
Actually, drafty and damp in the same place is one of the worst possible scenarios. Yet, there are few, but tested remedies for the bitterly cold days.
The all time number one favourite hot chocolate and marshmallows – we will need an open fire for that or a fireplace would do the trick also. The second-best nearly perfect item on the list of bad weather beating classics are all the soups and stews and chowders that make us feel warm inside.
While soup is a culinary staple on every table regardless of your GPS coordinates, chowder tends to be more popular in regions with the above mentioned coastal and somewhat Nordic lifestyle. This is so, because originally the chowder is a dish, prepared of seafood (mostly fresh cod, but also clams, salmon etc.), stewed with pork or bacon, and thickened with milk or cream and biscuits. And, bearing in mind that chowder has a French origin, to perfect it we should add cider or champagne.
The word chowder has been most probably adopted into the English language from the French chaudière, (cauldron in English) – a large metal pot for cooking over an open fire, in which the first chowders were probably cooked
The history of chowder in the English sources starts somewhere in the 18th century from the fishing villages of Brittany.
With the first written reference coming from 1751, from an issue of the Boston Evening Post which contains directions for making a chowder.
The recipe has been brought afterwards to Newfoundland, New England and Nova Scotia – regions famous for their chowder.
Ingredients can vary as long as there is some kind of seafood, cream and vegetables in the chowder and it is served with crackers on the side. As The Naval chronicle points out in 1809: “Chowder..is made in the following manner: a fish..skinned, cut up..and put into a kettle, under which is laid some rashers of salt pork or beef, and some broken pieces of biscuit; then the whole is..covered with water, and boiled about ten minutes“.
