Vinnie's Clam and Tog Chowda'

[FDFisherman]

Vinnie's Clam and Tog Chowda'

First make a FISH STOCK:
-1/2 onion
-1 carrot
-1 stalk celery
-2 tog racks (no head, gills, fins or skin, JUST BONES and any extra meat)
-1 bay leaf
-10 peppercorns
-TSP salt
-10 cups water

Bring up to a boil and then simmer for an hour or two. Strain it and reserve. You can make that ahead of time and freeze/refrigerate it.
Now for the Chowda'..

-5 slices of Bacon (small dice)
-2 stalks celery (small dice)
-1 medium onion (small dice)
-2 tbls Butter
-2 Tablespoons of Flour
-4 small potatoes (small dice) I used red w/ skin on, but you can use any.
-1 can of BUMBLE BEE or another brand of whole baby clams (save liquid)
-1 small can whole kernel Corn (Drained)
-2 cups heavy cream (NOT BOILING but heated!!)
-4 tog fillets (diced about the size of Dice) I used fresh, but frozen will work
-Teaspoon Fresh Thyme
-8 cups of your Fish Stock or CLAM JUICE (heated!!)

In a heavy bottom pot cook the bacon on low heat until rendered but NOT crispy. Remove it and set aside. Leave about 2 tbls of bacon fat in the pot. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of flour into that and stir for 1 minute. Now add your onions and celery and saute' until translucent. Add butter and the cooked bacon now. Sprinkle w/ S & P. Add the heated Fish stock slowly and stir while adding it. Bring that up to a boil and now add the corn, potatoes, 1/2 of the clams w/ the juice and fresh thyme. NOW simmer that for about 1/2 hour. Now slowly add the heated cream. Bring back to a boil and simmer LOW for another hour. Now add your TOG meat and the rest of the clams and cook for another 1/2 hour on low. Add S&P to taste and more fresh thyme if you like. Make some Pillsbury biscuits on the side.
This will feed about 5 people. Tastes better the next day.

[Reel Class]

...Just wanna bump this to the top I've made Vinny's chowda' the last 3 Decembers and it has been a HUGE hit!!! Gonna make some tomorrow night for lunch next week!!!

[ALS Mako]

-2 tog racks (no head, gills, fins or skin, JUST BONES and any extra meat)

"no head"- that's what i get from the wife. i always make stock with the heads. there is alot of good meat in it (cheeks and colar) that you can pick through and add back into the finished chowda. just a suggestion, not knocking your recipe.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Hey Vinn - How many onions......... "REALLY"

Sorry I couldn't resist

BTW - I tried this too and it's AWESOME!! And for those of you who don't know, Vinnie is actually a trained Chef. The guys in the fire house eat good for sure....

[FDFisherman]

Use Cod instead of blackfish NOW! Yummy!

Gerry, don't put too many onions in the sauce! (goodfellas)

[Capt. Jerry P]

I also been using Vinny's Recipe for the last few!

Excellent!!!

[FDFisherman]

makin some today.

[GDubya07]

Made this last night an OMG - Oh So Good - 2nd time making it - froze some for lunches - Great Recipe - Thanks again

Gdubya-

[PocketFisherman]

Made this for family today and added a deep fried garlic, herb, parmesean, panko crusted tog nugget or two to each mug with some crunchy bacon bits and a shot of sea salt.

Thought quadrupling the recipe would be enough - wrong.

[kurtisb]

Made this today. Excellent, thanks Vinnie.