Yum! Whitefish chowder.

[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Been making "pig out chowder" for decades...usually using perch or white bass. Never tried whitefish before. But had a few fillets left over after prepping enough for the smoker. So, I carefully skinned them and stripped out the bones...and put them into a fresh batch of chowder. I'm either on something or on to something. Either way, good stuff.
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[riverdog]

I make homemade chowders quite frequently. I don't use recipes but for sometimes with baking. Looks like a descent recipe but if you're making fresh chowder seriously consider skipping the canned soup. Just use more potato, a little extra onion and and dump some cream or half and half depending on what you have around. Then salt to taste. I take plenty of shortcuts with cooking all the time but canned soup just takes away from the fresh from scratch flavor both as plain soup and as an ingredient in something else. I put 2 lb of halibut to thaw this morning into the fridge. I'll do a similar recipe to make my halibut chowder tomorrow with the changes mentioned. Now I also use maybe half that much bacon and add a stalk or 2 of chopped celery in it's place. Does that make me a health nut[laugh]? But yeah if you want great chowder real butter and bacon are right up their with fresh cream (or half and half) in my book.
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[PIKEMAN99]

sounds good [shocked][shocked][shocked] []
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[BHuij]

Pic is working great for me. I took a regular clam chowder recipe from online somewhere and substituted rainbow trout, and it was awesome. This looks even better, since I think whitefish is a good match.

I'm hoping to snag some Bluegills from Utah Lake soon, but failing that, do you think this recipe would work okay with white bass? I know to avoid the red stripe...
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]The beauty of chowders (besides tasting good) is that the recipes are infinitely flexible. You really don't need to follow an exact recipe and you can add, delete or modify ingredients to suit your own tastes or whatever you have available.

I first learned how to make my chowder from an old galley guy on one of the fishing boats I worked on in Southern California. He always kept some canned soups, bacon, potatoes, onions and other goodies on hand. And whenever we had access to some good white-fleshed fish he whomped up a batch of chowder.

I definitely agree that making up a good homemade soup base is esthetically more pleasing than opening a can of soup. But this recipe is something that almost anybody can put together without a culinary background.

I like celery in my chowder but my wife doesn't, so I usually leave it out. In truth, you could add a lot more chopped veggies but then you get more into the "Manhattan" style chowder than the "New England" style I prefer.

One thing I sometimes do to "kick it up a notch" is to add either some chopped shrimp and/or some shrimp bouillon. That adds more of a salt water twang to it than using plain old perch or white bass.

And everybody has their own fave spices and flavorings. Almost anything will work...in moderation. I know quite a few guys who have started with my basic recipe and have modified it to suit their own preferences. And they're all good.

Never tried making it with halibut. But I'm sure it would be delectable. Long since finished up the halibut I brought back from our trip to the Queen Charlotte Islands a couple of years ago.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]You can make fish chowder from almost any species of fish. White bass, bluegill, crappie and perch are all good chowder candidates. No need to worry about the relatively small amount of red flesh on most white bass. Until they reach wiper size the potential for flavor downgrades from the red flesh is minimal.

I have made several large family gathering size batches of chowder by combining fillets from several species...and then throwing in some shrimp to boot.
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[Therapist]

My experience with you Pat is you are ON somthing !! So where did you get the whitefish, been sneaking out to the Weber on us ????

[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Nope. Ain't on nothing except an occasional pain killer (legal type) for my twisted knee. But you either gotta quit snorting the Smelly Jelly or look at the board more often. I hit Bear Lake last Saturday and even posted a report.
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[albinotrout]

[quote TubeDude][#0000FF]Nope. Ain't on nothing except an occasional pain killer (legal type) for my twisted knee. But you either gotta quit snorting the Smelly Jelly or look at the board more often. I hit Bear Lake last Saturday and even posted a report.
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What more can I say?[][][]
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[WaveWolf]

[#484848]In-as-much as the Therapist spoke of weber and in-as-much as your chowder is Terrific with a capitol T, I was wondering?[/#484848]
[#484848]What if you caught a few whitefish on the Weber and skinned them, and cooked them in some water and shrimp bouillon until the meat fell of those hairy little bones, and then added the meat at about the same time the chowder got done?[/#484848]

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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Mountain whitefish (those found in the Weber) are excellent eating. Especially during winter months when they are firmer. They do have a delicate flesh that falls apart more easily than most trout but it is mild and white...ideal for chowder.

No need to pre-poach the fish. Better to cut the row of flesh bones out in one little strip and add the boneless flesh directly to the chowder. That is the last thing I add and it only takes a few minutes to turn white and flaky. And cooking in the mingled flavors of the other ingredients is a plus.
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[BHuij]

The recipe calls for 1-2 lbs of whitefish fillet meat. I know bluegills aren't real huge, so can someone give me a ballpark idea of how many average size bluegills I might need to catch to fill out this recipe?
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[TubeDude]

[#0000ff]Fish size and filleting efficiency vary. Go by volume of fillets if you don't have a scale. A cup is 8 oz. so about 2 cups for a pound...4 cups for a quart.

Again, the recipe is very flexible. You can change the amount of any of the ingredients...using more or less fish, bacon, soup, etc. I have made small batches with only one or two cans of soup and a few strips of bacon...and the fillets from 10 or 12 perch or bluegills. And I have made BIG batches to feed a large family gathering.

Best to start small on your first couple of attempts until you get the feel for it and can balance the flavors and textures just right.
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[Therapist]

Now you have done it !! Smelly Jelly is not for snorting, you have destroyed me. Special Mix is my favorite.

To those who have never had the pleasure of eating TD's chowder, it is devine. A big bowl of hot chowder with crusty bread, heaven !!

Sorry I missed your Bear Lake post. Figured you were sneaking out to the stream on us !!!

[TubeDude]

[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3]"Sorry I missed your Bear Lake post. Figured you were sneaking out to the stream on us !!!" [/size][/#000000][/font]

Used to fish the Weber...and the Provo. Gave them up when the Orvis dorks took over. Couldn't ever fish any of my fave spots without dodging whistling fly lines...and nasty elitist comments.

Anyway, I kept wearing out the butt on my waders when my tube dragged on the rocks and gravel.
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