# Deconstructed Clam Chowder



## arxz (May 18, 2012)

On a thread from way too long ago to reply to.A person uses deconstructed oyster chowder as an example of the pretentiousness of modern cooking methods...I thought that was a good idea(the deconstructed oyster chowder part)

So I have been thinking of ways to use all of the normal ingredients in a different way.

For my example I will use clams though...and I want to start an open discussion on all the variations. This is just for educational fun.

I think I might start out with sauteing onions in butter  

not a lot of butter just enough to lightly coat them...

then when they are golden translucent

would add some sort of flour with starch added,

then I would let that caramelize and slowly add cream(with clam juice mixed in already) Actually that is a whole new step you could mix cold liquid ingredients like cream, clam juice,

then add whatever herbs and spices you might like....

You might even want to toast some of the spices in a skillet on the side.

In the oven I would have some potatoes baking

and I would steam some clams.

Then I would cut open the potato load it with steamed clams and pour on the sauce.

I bet a dish like this already exists...I just thought deconstructed clam(oyster chowder) ought not be just a satire of molecular gastronomy or modernist cooking.

I would love to hear variations on this...it only took me a few minutes to think up...so just imagine the neat things we could create using these ingredients and a little of our dynamic will.

P.s why are the words deconstructed, chowder. and sauted  stuck with red squiggly lines?I know I am spelling these words right. actually sauted needs a little squiggly above the e but I do not even know how to do that.


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## arxz (May 18, 2012)

You people are no fun.


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

Oh, we're fun. 

BDL


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Carmelize the flour and starch ?? What kind of chowder is this? Manhattan, New England,  Polanesian, Iranian, Mohawk?? You already added the cream with the clam juice mixed in and now you are steaming the clams? Where did the clamjuice come from prior? This is fun as BDL says. But I am confused.


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## rbandu (Apr 30, 2012)

I'm intrigued.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

I think the word sauted should be spelled sauteed.  There, no squiggly lines.

Ok, here's my pretentious deconstructed New England clam chowder.  Render a little bacon, finely minced.  Remove and set to the side.  In the bacon fat slowly sweat some finely minced onion with whatever chowder aromatics you like.  Add some butter and flour to make a roux.  Slowly add milk or cream until you you have a thick bechmamel.  Spread the cream in a deep dish so that the cream is an inch thick.  Gently press raw shucked clams into the cream so that they are completely submerged.  Refrigerate over night. 

Then use a cookie cutter to cut out each clam "croquette," and gently shape it into a ball if possible.  Dredge in egg and instant mashed potato flakes and deep fry until golden.  Garnish with chives and bacon crispies.  If my calculations are correct, the bechamel will loosen a little so that it's creamy and the clam will lightly steam.

I'm a genius.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Koukouvagia said:


> I think the word sauted should be spelled sauteed. There, no squiggly lines.


isn't there also an accent (not squiggly, but a diagonal line, in which direction i have no idea) on the first e???

as for deconstructed clam chowder, you guys have taken the clams, the bacon, the onion and the cream, but where's the soup????

Now, not to be a party pooper, but once i complained on these very forums about restaurants that pile things one on top of the other. Meat on top of potatoes, so that to cut the meat you have to either squish it into the potatoes or lift it off, dripping and gooped up with potatoes to another part of the (no doubt empty gigantic dish, where there was plenty of room for everything). and i was reviled and ridiculed and told i should be served my food in a sectioned plate!

BUT...... But, it is perfectly ok to take a soup (SOUP mind you) and take it apart like a mechanic taking apart a motor, and put it all over a flat dish, one part separate from the other.

I ask you, what would happen in your virtual restaurant if i asked for a bowl and poured all those ingredients in and mixed them together??

/img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Deconstructed anything ==Take apart== Just reverse the order of everything you did   For what or why? I don't know.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

siduri said:


> isn't there also an accent (not squiggly, but a diagonal line, in which direction i have no idea) on the first e???
> 
> as for deconstructed clam chowder, you guys have taken the clams, the bacon, the onion and the cream, but where's the soup????
> 
> ...


Oh boy, can open, worms everywhere. We were just having a bit of fun. In my scenario the soup is inside the croquette so /img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif and obviously it's not really a soup, I would call it a chowder croquette. Obviously there would be a soup course in my virtual restaurant, the soup would be called greek-salad soup and be like a gazpacho, which is an unconstructed salad lol.

Wow, I had no idea you felt so strongly about vertical food. I love vertical food and when it is presented in the right way it very much can be eaten by cutting into it and getting a bit of all the components. I also have no problem moving a protein from its assigned position. I quite like the negative space of a large dish, it is aesthetically pleasing to me and I like the way it frames the food. I wouldn't say I like hoity toity food. I enjoy a nice home-style presentation as well but even that doesn't guarantee that your meat will not touch the potatoes at some point. Life is short, sometimes food will be stacked according to the chef's wishes and I try to enjoy it for what it is.

.... that said I absolutely HATE it when restaurants put my scrambled eggs in a plate with pancakes or godforbid ontop of my french toast. Seriously? Seriously?


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## arxz (May 18, 2012)

You can do whatever you want...My little ad lib recipe were just guidelines.

This is not for a restaurant this is for someone at home who is curious about playing with there

food...in a grown up way.

The clam juice came from a bottle buy the way.


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## arxz (May 18, 2012)

For people who like to cook.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Koukouvagia said:


> Oh boy, can open, worms everywhere. We were just having a bit of fun. In my scenario the soup is inside the croquette so /img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif and obviously it's not really a soup, I would call it a chowder croquette. Obviously there would be a soup course in my virtual restaurant, the soup would be called greek-salad soup and be like a gazpacho, which is an unconstructed salad lol.
> 
> Wow, I had no idea you felt so strongly about vertical food. I love vertical food and when it is presented in the right way it very much can be eaten by cutting into it and getting a bit of all the components. I also have no problem moving a protein from its assigned position. I quite like the negative space of a large dish, it is aesthetically pleasing to me and I like the way it frames the food. I wouldn't say I like hoity toity food. I enjoy a nice home-style presentation as well but even that doesn't guarantee that your meat will not touch the potatoes at some point. Life is short, sometimes food will be stacked according to the chef's wishes and I try to enjoy it for what it is.
> 
> .... that said I absolutely HATE it when restaurants put my scrambled eggs in a plate with pancakes or godforbid ontop of my french toast. Seriously? Seriously?


I HOPE it was clear i was having fun too.

But it is true that i don't like large dishes if they';re an excuse for giving me tiny bits of food. I don;t think meat can never touch the potatoes, but i find it disturbing to have it put on top of them - if i want to mix the flavors i will, but i don;t want to be forced to. And it's a pain and ugly to cut meat over mashed potatoes, you just get a mess, and ugly also to move the meat to a clean part of the dish with the potatoes clinging to it. Meat is juicy, and the juiciness is lost in the potatoes - so sad.

deconstructed reconstructed gazpacho soup - you take all the ingredients of gazpacho and don;t puree them, except that you do leave a little of each out and puree that and you use it as a garnish for the salad.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

> Originally Posted by *siduri*
> 
> ...Meat is juicy, and the juiciness is lost in the potatoes - so sad.
> 
> deconstructed reconstructed gazpacho soup - you take all the ingredients of gazpacho and don;t puree them, except that you do leave a little of each out and puree that and you use it as a garnish for the salad.


Juice lost in the potatoes? That's where meat juice belongs - in the potatoes! I use my potatoes are as vehicle to consume every last bit of gravy or meat juice in sight.

LOL at the reconstructed gazpacho soup. We should start a restaurant featuring reconstructed food. And our slogan will be "we serve food as it should be."


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Koukouvagia said:


> Juice lost in the potatoes? That's where meat juice belongs - in the potatoes! I use my potatoes are as vehicle to consume every last bit of gravy or meat juice in sight.
> 
> LOL at the reconstructed gazpacho soup. We should start a restaurant featuring reconstructed food. And our slogan will be "we serve food as it should be."


Me likes me potatoes to taste o' potatoes (oh, well, sometimes o' buttah) and me meat to taste o' meat!

(when nobody's looking i would not be above drinking up the meat juice directly /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif)


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## kostendorf (Mar 15, 2012)

there is a southpark episode that slams the cooking shows hard cant rember what number the show was but you can find it on www.southparkstudios.com it is a great episode cartman immitates gordon ramsey perfectly.


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## kostendorf (Mar 15, 2012)

season 14 the creme fraiche


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