San Francisco Crab Meatball Chowder Recipes

SHRIMP AND CRAB CHOWDER

Steps:

• start a seafood stock with any fish pieces, or scrap, shrimp shells or fish bones you may have on hand. ( you may use clam juice instead)
• add the butter to a 4 quart sauce pan with all of the rough cut vegetables and allow to cook until they begin to soften.
• Add the flour to the vegetables and mix well, to make a roux, allow this to cook for at least 5 minutes to get rid of the raw flour taste.
• add the heated stock to the roux mixture and blend well.
• add in the heavy cream and season.
• allow chowder to simmer for 20-30 minutes.
• add the chopped shrimp pieces and allow to cook in the chowder for 3-5 minutes
• Before serving add in your crab meat.

CALIFORNIA CLAM CHOWDER

Steps:

• Place bacon in a large skillet and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain bacon slices on paper towels and crumble, reserving the drippings in the skillet.
• Cook and stir potatoes, celery, and onion in the bacon grease over medium heat until cooked through and tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain grease from skillet and stir seafood seasoning, garlic salt, onion powder, thyme, and white pepper into vegetable mixture until evenly coated.
• Melt butter in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Whisk cornstarch into melted butter until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir half-and-half and milk into butter mixture until thickened and smooth, about 5 minutes.
• Drain juice from canned clams and stir juice into milk-butter mixture; add vegetable mixture and stir. Cook and stir soup until heated through but not boiling, about 5 minutes. Stir clams into soup and simmer until heated through, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle bacon and drizzle red wine vinegar over soup before serving.

CRAB CHOWDER

Steps:

• Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Cook and stir onion, celery, thyme, salt, and pepper in hot butter until onion and celery start to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir potatoes, milk, broth, cream, and clam juice into onion mixture. Bring to a simmer; cook until potatoes are soft, about 10 minutes.
• Pour broth mixture into a blender no more than half full. Cover and hold lid down; pulse a few times before leaving on to blend. Puree in batches until smooth. Return pureed soup to pot and stir in crabmeat. Cook until soup is hot and crab is heated through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

CINDY'S AWESOME CLAM CHOWDER

Steps:

• Place the bacon in a large pot and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until crisped and browned, about 10 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon, leaving the drippings in the pot. Set the bacon aside. Stir the potatoes and carrots into the bacon fat. Season with salt and pepper, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
• Pour the juice from the clams into the pot, and add enough water to just cover the potatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the potatoes are just tender, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Gently stir the leek soup mix into the potatoes until no lumps of soup remain. Stir in the clams, reserved bacon, and half-and-half cream. Cook and stir until the chowder returns to a simmer and thickens, about 10 minutes more.

MEATBALL CHOWDER

Steps:

• Meat Balls: To make meatballs combine all ingredients except oil; mix thoroughly.
• Form into balls about the size of walnuts (40-50 balls). Heat oil and brown balls lightly.
• Chowder: In a 8-10 quart kettle bring all ingredients except Mexicorn to a boil.
• Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes, adding Mexicorn for last 10 minutes.
• Add browned meat balls.

SAN FRANCISCO CRAB "MEATBALL" CHOWDER

Steps:

• 1. To make the meatballs, place the crabmeat in a mixing bowl and shred with a fork. Add the eggs, milk, dry mustard, pepper, and cracker crumbs. Mix well. Season with salt and hot sauce to taste. Moisten your hands and roll the mixture into balls that are about 3/4- to 1-inch in diameter (about 1/2 ounce each); keep your hands slightly wet so the balls are very smooth. Place on a cookie sheet. You should have about 36 balls. Cover and refrigerate while you prepare the chowder.
• 2. To cook the crabs, fill a 6- to 8-quart pot with 1/2-inch ocean water or tap water with enough salt added to make it very salty. Bring to a boil, place the crab(s) top shell (carapace) down in the pot, cover, and steam for about 12 minutes for smaller crabs, about 20 minutes for a Dungeness crab. Remove and allow to cool at room temperature.
• 3. When cool enough to handle, remove the crab legs, break into sections, and neatly crack the large pieces. Pick the meat from the small pieces and reserve. Remove the apron (tail flap) from the bottom of each crab and discard. Remove the top shell, scoop the green stuff (tomalley) out of it, and reserve; discard the shell. Remove the gills from the body and discard. Cut the body into quarters and trim away any extraneous shell or cartilage. Refrigerate all the crabmeat, crab pieces, and tomalley until ready to use.
• 4. Heat a 4- to 6-quart heavy pot over low heat and add the bacon. Once it has rendered a few tablespoons of fat, increase the heat to medium and cook until the bacon is a crisp golden brown. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat, leaving the bacon in the pot.
• 5. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the butter, onion, bell pepper, bay leaves, and the Old Bay Seasoning and cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, for about 10 minutes, until the onion and pepper are softened but not browned.
• 6. Add the potatoes and crab stock, turn up the heat, and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and cook the potatoes vigorously for about 10 minutes, until they are soft on the outside but still firm in the center. If the broth hasn't thickened lightly, smash a few potatoes against the side of the pot and cook a minute or two longer to release their starch.
• 7. Lower the heat to medium, add the tomatoes, and bring back to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the cracked crab legs, picked leg meat, tomalley, and body sections. If you are not serving the chowder within the hour, let it cool a bit, then refrigerate; cover the chowder after it has chilled completely. Otherwise, let it sit at room temperature for up to an hour, allowing the flavors to meld.
• 8. When ready to serve, reheat the chowder over low heat. While it is reheating, place an 8- or 9-inch skillet or sauté pan over medium-high heat, add about 1/2 inch vegetable oil, and heat to about 350°F. Carefully but quickly add 8 to 10 meatballs to the hot oil and pan-fry, turning them as needed, until they are a rich brown color on all sides, so they resemble real meatballs. Using a slotted spoon, remove the meatballs, letting the excess oil drain back into the pan, then place on paper towels to drain. Repeat with the remaining meatballs.
• 9. Ladle the chowder into shallow bowls or large soup plates, making sure that the crab, onions, peppers, tomatoes, and potatoes are evenly divided. Place 4 meatballs in each bowl and sprinkle generously with the chopped parsley. Serve the remaining meatballs on a plate or platter; your guests can add more, if desired.
• In addition to the crab meatballs, the chowder contains two whole crabs. Steaming and cracking the crabs is a bit of work, but they add great flavor. If you use the full amount of crab stock called for in the recipe, you can omit the crabs and still have a great chowder, but do not omit them if you make the chowder with fish or chicken stock. Without any crab flavor in the chowder, the meatballs dont connect. Even with crab stock, I recommend the cracked crabs; they add character and rustic charm.
• For equipment, you will need a 6- to 8-quart pot with a tight-fitting lid (for steaming the crabs), a 4- to 6-quart heavy pot with a lid (for making the chowder), a wooden spoon, and an 8- to 9-inch skillet or sauté pan, a slotted spoon, and a ladle.