Best Fish for Fish Chowder?

What is the best fish for Fish Chowder?

It has really been cold here lately, and by that I mean below zero (f) for days, and here, the traditional cold weather meal is Fish Chowder. Packed with protein and starch, (fish and poatoes) it really fills the belly on a budget. It is also when fish is in season, but what is the best choice?

Normally we would have just grabbed some Pollock, but the prices were so low, they were out of everything. All that was left was Cod, and it was good, but I am not sure it was the best choice. Haddock? Pollock? Cod? Tuna? Scollops? Salmon?

I would pop in some smoked haddock and fresh salmon. Yum!

When it comes to fish chowder, I say all of the above - the more the merrier. Throw what ya got straight into the pot!

Artie Scott wrote:When it comes to fish chowder, I say all of the above - the more the merrier. Throw what ya got straight into the pot!

It would take a BIG pot! (LOL)

Yellow Fin Tuna...

I grew up making it with home-canned salmon caught from the Yukon, but when I was a student for a semester in the Soviet Union, I made it with canned mystery fish (some sort of gutted headless things the size of large sardines jammed into cans similar to what tomato paste is usually sold in in the USA) and it came out pretty OK.  This was the stuff that was on the shelves that the locals didn't buy after they stood in line for an hour to buy the stuff that they were standing in line for, if that makes sense.  I'm not sure if they considered it inferior or if just wasn't heavily subsidized enough and so it was too expensive for a typical Soviet worker pay packet.  It was very gray, like everything else in the CCCP in the winter of 1988.  

I realize this input adds nothing to the discussion about what fish is best for fish chowder, but I am hoping to bolster the discussion at the bottom end: I think I have proven that there's no fish that doesn't work for chowder.  If grey Soviet mystery-mackerels (plus onions, potatoes, milk, and butter, all a long way off the collective farm via a supply chain that never heard of refrigeration or anti-freeze protection) can make a passable chowder, I propose that pretty much any fish will do.  

And grey or not, since it turns out I knew more about cooking from basic ingredients than any of the other Americans in my program, they had their bowls lined up in our dorm's communal kitchen by the time my first vat of chowder was ready.  The student cafeterias at Moscow Steel and Alloy Institute were a stomach-turning nightmare with a stench that reeked out the doors, and some of these kids had been eating bread and cheese for two weeks by the time I scouted out enough different markets and ingredients to start turning out big-vat meals for sharing.

And by the way, Travis, that cedar planked salmon dinner, complete with homemade bread, wine and dessert, looks absolutely delicious!  Do you eat like that every meal?  

Artie Scott wrote:And by the way, Travis, that cedar planked salmon dinner, complete with homemade bread, wine and dessert, looks absolutely delicious!  Do you eat like that every meal?  

No, not anymore.

When I first took over being a Trophy-Husband, the guilt of sending my wife off to work was really high. I felt I had to do something, and so I made meals like that daily. But I have (4) daughters and they did not really like it. A lot of great food was thrown out because they wanted something simple like pasta Elbows with butter...yes that simple.

I am still besieged with guilt for being sick and not doing more (Paul talks about Brain Fog in a few posts recently on here due to high iron), but I just cannot get out of my own shadow. High iron is a problem with many people with endocrine problems like me.

I got confirmation today that it is more serious than I even thought. The intake professional at the Neurosurgeons Office at the Research Hospital I am going to said it was above his skill-set, and my charts had to be reviewed directly by the Neurosurgeon. He is one of only a few Pituitary Gland specialists in the world, and has a perfect score for medical practice. It is almost unheard of, so I am really hoping he can mitigate my cancer.

That meal sure does look delicious!!!

Best chowder I ever ate (HQ'd out of Boston for a few years so traveled there often) is lobster. Then again, have had some delicious Cajun chowders. No telling what might have been in those. So maybe the best answer is ... it depends?

Salmon or halibut either one, but those are staple fish here in AK.  Also had a smoked salmon chowder once that was really good.

Mike Barkley wrote:That meal sure does look delicious!!!

Best chowder I ever ate (HQ'd out of Boston for a few years so traveled there often) is lobster. Then again, have had some delicious Cajun chowders. No telling what might have been in those. So maybe the best answer is ... it depends?

I will take a big pot for lobster chowder too.

I actually thought about doing a Scallop Chowder, but it was $14 a pound, so I said "screw that".

We use Honey Smoked Salmon (in the yellow packages) in our chowder because it is easy to find and taste great to me.  I think the smoked fish is key to getting the best flavor.  I accidentally burned some while reheating in the pot and the smell was terrible.  I haven't been able to sell the meal to my wife lately because of it and you're making me hungry!