A loooooot of prep went into this soup so of course I had to bring in a sous chef to help tackle this one. Shoutout my good friend Jake for not only bringing the inspiration, but also the recipe itself which he found on Vice courtesy of Chef Matty Matheson. If you have seen the TV show The Bear or follow his youtube, you might be familiar with his work 🙂

Soup with seafood has been a staple part of my diet, especially when I go traveling. Whether I’ve been in San Fransisco or in Nice, the seafood soup never disappoints. Despite this affection, I feel this has the potential to be the most complicated soup I make, especially with the experience I decided to try out just before beginning the soup process. But hey, this is what the inquiry project is for!

Soup Process & Notes

• Immediately this was a challenge!
  • Lots of culinary firsts when attempting to make this soup including creating a broth from scratch and cooking & shelling clams
  • Shelling clams is a tedious process. Thank goodness for Jake!
• Shocked at salty balance
  • I worried that this recipe would end up being too salty, with the homemade broth, bacon, and clams
  • However, I was pleasantly surprised (and would go as far to say I nailed) the amount of salt flavour
• Bummed out about…
  • The thickness of the soup. It was missing some of that classic viscosity that all of my favourite chowders had. Went a little to crazy with the fish stock!
  • The clams. I overcooked the clams out of fear of poisoning myself, but I should have trusted my gut (and the recipe) on timing. Clams were a bit too chewy and didn’t add a lot of flavour

I would say that, while this recipe offered a nice challenge, I think it was beyond my current culinary soup making skills. Due to the amount of work and time it took, I think it would be a little bit before I go back and try this recipe again. That’s all part of the journey though and I’m stoked I gave it a go!