How to Make a Seafood Chowder from Scratch

By Carl Muir

Making a seafood chowder is a great way to make a little bit of kaimoana feed a lot of people.

A good fish soup or seafood chowder is a staple dishe in mosts cultures around the world. Many of these countries are not blessed with the same fishery we still have here in New Zealand, so making the most of the catch is key.

Making the most of our catch, and paying full respect to anything we take from the ocean is one of the ways we can ensure our local fishery remains abundant for future generations.

A well made seafood chowder is like a tonic or a medicine. It is extremely nutritious as its base is made from the gelatinous, most nutritionally dense part of the fish.

This process, if you have a bunch of people who don’t mind mucking in and also picking at fish frames, can be a very social one, especially after a day on the water while you are cleaning up.

If you don’t fish yourself, but have mates that do, knowing how to make a good seafood chowder is a good way to make the most of other people’s catch too, and good parts of the fish others might unknowingly throw away.

You will notice there is no flour in this recipe to thicken it up, we’ve tried to keep it as wholesome and ketogenic as possible. This recipe was made during one of our recent Provider Wellbeing Retreats after a couple of days of gathering kaimoana, and went down an absolute treat.

Part One: Making the Fish Stock

They key to a good seafood chowder is the base fish stock, so that is where we will start. This can be done the same day as you make your chowder, and there will be excess stock that you can save or freeze for other dishes later on.

In this recipe we are using both fish heads and fish frames. The fattier the fish the better, hapuku and kingfish both make excellent stock, but so does snapper, and any off our staple New Zealand fish. Also, the fresher the better. Make your stock the day you clean up your catch, of the day after. Start with this part of the fish. Save your fillets for later in the week.

Usually you try and keep fresh water off fish fillets. However, making a fish stock, you want to give your heads and frames a very good rinse in fresh water, and remove any slime and any blood lines. This will ensure the stock is not tainted.

While you can start by placing the frames straight into a pot, I prefer to roast them first, especially if it is hapuku and big frames, you can end up packing way more goodness into the pot. I lay the frames and heads out on a roasting tray (usually multiple trays filling the oven) , and

1.drizzle with olive oil,

2.grate over lemon rind

3.add fresh herbs like thyme, parsley and oregano from the garden

4.sprinkle dried cumin and tumeric over, a little drizzle of Uncle Dunkle’s hot sauce, and salt and pepper.

5. fresh diced garlic

Roast for approx 20 minutes at 150 or until the fish is coming off the bone.

Once out of the oven, pick off any good meat. This could be a good time to have a little side snack with your crew, smear some of the belly flaps over some toasted bruschetta with some mayo.

There’s always someone that wants the eyeball!

Have a big pot ready and any bones and discards can be thrown in as you go. Make sure every little bit of goodness in the oven tray, especially all of the juices and fat get thrown in the pot. You can also throw in any extra frames that didn’t quite make it in the roasting tray.

Fill the pot with water and add:

-Tbsp of Tumeric

-Lots of celery leaves

-One carrot chopped into four pieces

-One onion chopped into four pieces

-A sprig of rosemary

-One bay leaf

-Dash of curry powder

-Fresh diced garlic and ginger

-Fresh herbs: oregano, parsley, thyme, mint

-Dried spices: cumin, cajun, garlic powder, salt and pepper

-Half a lemon

Simmer for 1/2 hour to 1 hour. Breaking up any remaining bones as you go.

Take off heat, and strain multiple times.

Save some of this stock for your chowder, refrigerate some for the rest of the weeks dishes, and freeze whatever you want for later on. Great in curries and rissottos.

Part Two: Making the Fish Chowder

There are no end of variations to how to make a good seafood chowder from this point on. Basically, use what you have at hand, taste and add to suit.

I usually start by frying up some garlic, butter, sliced leek, diced celery, diced onion in a pan, and then adding half a dozen or more cups of the stock. Peel and dice two kumara (for sweetness and texture) until kumara starts to soften, then add:

-Full cream

-Coconut cream

-Fresh herbs

-Chilli/Hot Sauce

-A squeeze of Old Yella mustard

-A tbsp of tomato paste

Simmer for 15-20 minutes.

From here you can go for gold adding your seafood. It may be the you just have some of the fish you’ve picked off the bone earlier, that is fine. But if you get the chance add a diversity of seafood. One of the best chowders I have had recently had kina roe, scallops, crayfish and then broken up fillets of fish that had been pre-fried in butter.

I would rate pink mao-mao as one of the best fish you can put into a chowder, with a very nice white flesh. With some fish you want to make sure you do not place in too early, just dropping in at the very end. Other fish like pink mao mao or hapuku can take a bit of simmering. Adding some chopped mussels, pipis or tuatua through the chowder can also give it a nice rich flavour.

We hope this inspires you to go out and try and come up with your own take on a seafood chowder. Enjoy!