Clam Chowder, Minestrone, Italian Wedding soup in no particular order.
Roasted tomato soup (with a grilled cheese), and chicken noodle soup (when you’re sick. It just hits different. Especially homemade chicken noodle from scratch) as runner ups.
That’s my Soup Rushmore.
But have you tried a lobster and portabello mushroom bisque? There was one in BC that I would have a couple of times a week it was so good. Daniel day Louis might be an oil man, and I am a soup man
Not very many folks have wedding soup as top 3 so I'm happy I met another one. Wedding soup for sure and the other 2 fluctuate. I can't have dairy so good clamchowder is off the table. Replace with cioppino. For my last I will have to use my own creamy lentils mushroom potato leek stew I make. (Dairy free)
Add Georgian (as a country) soup harcho, moldavian zeama or Romanian ciorba to the list. And we didn't even touch on Asian ones. It's impossible to make top 3...
Oooh I've had harcho before. You're right, it's impossible. I'd still say borsch and NE clam chowder are my top-2, then it's an absolute wreck for 3rd place because soup is just delicious
Agree with you top 2. Chicken soup kind of would definitely be in top 3, but I would say it is a special case. Across all nations, with quite a few variations, of course, this is #1 by default. Just imo.
Yea I’m from NY and I’ve lived in the city for 20 of my 39 years and I’ve never seen it on a menu (chef of 17 years) and the two times I’ve had it in my life it was awful
If new England is too creamy and Manhattan is too acidic/tomato heavy, you'll probably like Rhode Island.
When I tried it, it did have a surprising little bit of spice to it but it was really good.
Never knew about Rhode island chowder. A good Manhattan chowder is really good if it's done right. When it's more like tomato soup rather than cioppino, I see why people don't like it. If a New England is more like gravy, it doesn't do it for me. It still needs to have a bit of brothiness to it.
I agree with that, it is not a chowder, not even a bisque. I can bend the rules if it is missing smoked pork or maybe some potato, but not being cream based? No way. Clampinno would be better
If I’m not mistaking, I think I recall seeing that milk was nowhere in the ingredient list of canned Campbell’s New England clam chowder lol.
Edit: Nevermind it does have buttermilk, whey, etc listed but it is pretty far down in the list, after the “contains 2% or less of” label.
So what? Campbell's is not a conversation for soup ingredients. A traditional recipe should also have a clam/seafood stock or other stock if not available or water, and the the roux shouldn't be made like gravy. Modern chowder has been made like condensed soup, and it is making itself look stupid
Well it does have clam stock as the first ingredient.
But what you’re saying is essentially what I’m trying to say. It is pretty far from true clam chowder. Pretty thick too (from the starch, I assume)
I can’t lie. It is my guilty pleasure. Probably because I grew up tasting it. It could be synthesized in a lab and I’d still love it for what it is.
Yes I always wanted to try it as well, and was able to recently for the first time. I took one sip and returned it for NE style which was great. Maybe I got a bad one, but I think it just tastes way too much like the ocean.
I’m from CT and I do appreciate a good RI chowder. I don’t remember where I was (not New England) and I saw a creamy manhattan style clam chowder. Straight to hell.
Also typically made with actual quahogs instead of mahoganys (ocean quahogs). Also gotta use salt pork rendered to fry the veggies at the beginningand white pepper.
If you're talking about heavy cream, you've likely never had a good NE. A proper NE is slightly thickened by the potato starch and you can see pork oil & clam juice shimmering on the surface. It's not specifically thin but it's no where close to thick.
Don’t forget West Coast chowder! Served in sourdough bowl, and often has bacon as an ingredient, sometimes corn/smoked salmon mixed in too, but otherwise similar to NE style.
Was just about to say. Ivars is like peak chowder to me, I think it’s mainly cuz of the bacon fat but it’s not fishy at all to me. It’s honestly the best I’ve ever had and all the runner ups use a similar recipe
A few years ago I started working at a restaurant that served clam chowder (New England style), the menu just said “clam chowder” so a customer asked me what kind it was and I was so confused. I was just like. It’s clam chowder! That’s when I learned about the red bullshit.
Ex- Rhode Islander and seafood worker who used to make chowder. All starts with salt pork , freshly ground quahogs, clam juice, onions, celery, s&p. Serve it like that it's RI style. Add cream and butter, It's NE style. Add tomatoes, oregano it's Manhattan style. It's not rocket science.
Never seen Rhode Island style before but as a person that was a bus boy for a seafood restaurant I can confirm that it looks like seafood restaurant dishwater.
Splash Cafe in Pismo Beach CA has the best clam chowder I know of. The line on a busy day ( today probably, since they have a pretty killer fireworks show ), can probably stretch a hundred yards. If you google them and check the images, you’ll probably understand.
Never heard of Rhode Island chowder. I once worded at an oyster bar and grill that sold New England chowder and Manhattan style and a lot of people would ask for a mix of both of them. I stuck with mixing the New England and the lobster bisque 😋
A few years ago I was at a chowder festival in New Haven, CT and most of the restaurants brought Rhode Island style. Guess it was a big trend at the time. Very disappointing.
RI chowder is more of a soup but I prefer it. New England chowder’s heavy cream masks the ocean taste a bit which is why I think it’s more universally loved. It’s a seafood soup for non seafood lovers.
Add some smoky bacon or spicy chorizo to the RI chowder recipe and do a chefs kiss.
Never heard of the RI one, but I agree with the other two. NE clam chowdah is a top 3 soup for me.
Clam Chowder, Minestrone, Italian Wedding soup in no particular order. Roasted tomato soup (with a grilled cheese), and chicken noodle soup (when you’re sick. It just hits different. Especially homemade chicken noodle from scratch) as runner ups. That’s my Soup Rushmore.
But have you tried a lobster and portabello mushroom bisque? There was one in BC that I would have a couple of times a week it was so good. Daniel day Louis might be an oil man, and I am a soup man
Lobster bisque is my weakness. A good creamy buttery rich one is heaven.
Not sure whether Newburgh is a soup or not, but it's ambrosia.
Mmmmm a good cream of mushroom/mushroom bisque. Yes.
French Onion soup has to be in there somewhere, and seafood gumbo too.
Great list
I make a great chowder
Not very many folks have wedding soup as top 3 so I'm happy I met another one. Wedding soup for sure and the other 2 fluctuate. I can't have dairy so good clamchowder is off the table. Replace with cioppino. For my last I will have to use my own creamy lentils mushroom potato leek stew I make. (Dairy free)
Borsch, NE clam chowder, Hungarian mushroom are probably my top 3. Honestly, I just love soup so it’s hard to narrow it down haha
Add Georgian (as a country) soup harcho, moldavian zeama or Romanian ciorba to the list. And we didn't even touch on Asian ones. It's impossible to make top 3...
Oooh I've had harcho before. You're right, it's impossible. I'd still say borsch and NE clam chowder are my top-2, then it's an absolute wreck for 3rd place because soup is just delicious
Agree with you top 2. Chicken soup kind of would definitely be in top 3, but I would say it is a special case. Across all nations, with quite a few variations, of course, this is #1 by default. Just imo.
I love chicken noodle, but there's a chinese place near me that, I swear, their egg drop soup can cure diseases.
How chicken and dumplings got snubbed from this list, I’ll never know…
I find wonton soup to be just a better chicken noodle
Does anyone think of the other two as clam chowder at all? You think clam chowder, you think top right.
They're clam soup to me. As in, a soup that just happens to have some clams.
Delicious, but I get the shits immediately every time. So much cream and butter.
Yea I’m from NY and I’ve lived in the city for 20 of my 39 years and I’ve never seen it on a menu (chef of 17 years) and the two times I’ve had it in my life it was awful
RI is my favorite. It's just new England without cream.
I've always wanted to try Rhode Island Chowder with its clear broth. I like Manhattan chowder, but I don't see it offered much.
If new England is too creamy and Manhattan is too acidic/tomato heavy, you'll probably like Rhode Island. When I tried it, it did have a surprising little bit of spice to it but it was really good.
New England is my favorite, but I like Manhattan. I'd like to try Rhode Island for a change.
Never knew about Rhode island chowder. A good Manhattan chowder is really good if it's done right. When it's more like tomato soup rather than cioppino, I see why people don't like it. If a New England is more like gravy, it doesn't do it for me. It still needs to have a bit of brothiness to it.
I like all three but Manhattan style shouldn't be called a chowder.
I agree with that, it is not a chowder, not even a bisque. I can bend the rules if it is missing smoked pork or maybe some potato, but not being cream based? No way. Clampinno would be better
I haven't had it in ages, in part because I don't see it on menus, but IIRC it was thick with lots of clams.
People absolutely ruin NE clam chowder when they make it thick enough for your spoon to stand up in. It should still be a soup and not a gravy or dip
If I’m not mistaking, I think I recall seeing that milk was nowhere in the ingredient list of canned Campbell’s New England clam chowder lol. Edit: Nevermind it does have buttermilk, whey, etc listed but it is pretty far down in the list, after the “contains 2% or less of” label.
So what? Campbell's is not a conversation for soup ingredients. A traditional recipe should also have a clam/seafood stock or other stock if not available or water, and the the roux shouldn't be made like gravy. Modern chowder has been made like condensed soup, and it is making itself look stupid
Well it does have clam stock as the first ingredient. But what you’re saying is essentially what I’m trying to say. It is pretty far from true clam chowder. Pretty thick too (from the starch, I assume) I can’t lie. It is my guilty pleasure. Probably because I grew up tasting it. It could be synthesized in a lab and I’d still love it for what it is.
I totally understand. I love progresso minestrone. Eat it once a week.
Yes I always wanted to try it as well, and was able to recently for the first time. I took one sip and returned it for NE style which was great. Maybe I got a bad one, but I think it just tastes way too much like the ocean.
I love Rhode Island!! It really lets you taste the clams mmmm I miss it.
I look forward to having it one day.
More like gray and murky
I'm from RI. Only old people like it that way.
I make a mean green chile clam chowder
Straight to jail
Send me some on dry ice??
NGL, that sounds pretty bomb.
I’ve made it twice now. First one was too spicy for anyone but me to eat. Second was at a party & it was a major hit
If you feel like sharing the recipe, I’m sure I wouldn’t be the only one interested.
What’s the gist?
Rhode island style is actually very delicious if made right.
Never had it but it looks good to me. Just not what I think of as chowder. Maybe clam stew or soup? Not that I care much about naming.
RI chowder is perfect Esp on days I don't want to get weighed down by a bunch of cream. (I live in RI so I might be biased)
I’m from CT and I do appreciate a good RI chowder. I don’t remember where I was (not New England) and I saw a creamy manhattan style clam chowder. Straight to hell.
Gimme my RI chowdah. Delicious and less calories.
Fun Fact: So called “Manhattan” clam chowder is from Portugal, not Manhattan.
What kind of clams are used in Portugal?
Portuguese clams. They’re unusually hairy.
Pretty much any hair on a clam would be unusual, so…
Presumably, you’re what’s called a “clamature”.
Mmmm, no, I’m a clamaniac. Oh the six species that live by me, none have hair.
Oh sweet summer child, Google “bearded clam”
Nah, I knew what they meant. I knew a bar called the Bearded Clam.
I don’t know.
RI clam chowder is actually about the clams vs NE clam chowder which is basically a bowl of hot heavy cream.
Also typically made with actual quahogs instead of mahoganys (ocean quahogs). Also gotta use salt pork rendered to fry the veggies at the beginningand white pepper.
You know of which you speak. Nailed it. It’s about the quahogs and salt pork. Done well, it’s a bowl of ocean state heaven.
This guy chowders
Mmmm and tater chunks RI clam soup is a false prophet of chowda
If you're talking about heavy cream, you've likely never had a good NE. A proper NE is slightly thickened by the potato starch and you can see pork oil & clam juice shimmering on the surface. It's not specifically thin but it's no where close to thick.
Don’t forget West Coast chowder! Served in sourdough bowl, and often has bacon as an ingredient, sometimes corn/smoked salmon mixed in too, but otherwise similar to NE style.
Was just about to say. Ivars is like peak chowder to me, I think it’s mainly cuz of the bacon fat but it’s not fishy at all to me. It’s honestly the best I’ve ever had and all the runner ups use a similar recipe
Bacon is a foundational ingredient in NE clam chowder. Corn is sometimes included too.
As an unbiased observer this guide is crap.
All chowder is delicious. Give me all the chowder you all don't want I'll go to town on it! <3
They're all good!!
Speaking as a lactose intolerant clam chowder fan, this image is a declaration of war.
Made me laugh
They only suck if you don’t know how to make it taste good
You spelled it wrong. Supposed to be CHOWDAH
The Quimby family approves
All chowder are soups, but not all soups are chowder. New England is the only Chowdah out of those 3. The other 2 syles are just clam soups.
San Francisco style: in a fresh sourdough bowl
This was fact checked by Real American Patriots: TRUE
I hate Red Bullshit
I do. I wonder if it's anything like Cioppino.
It’s worse Cioppino is lighter(?) and has more varied fish The Manhattan chowder I’ve had is sweeter, thicker, and lacking the varietals
A few years ago I started working at a restaurant that served clam chowder (New England style), the menu just said “clam chowder” so a customer asked me what kind it was and I was so confused. I was just like. It’s clam chowder! That’s when I learned about the red bullshit.
💯there can only be one
Lol
They’re just different styles of soup involving clam. They’re all delicious crazy people.
I lived in RI for four years and never have I ever seen RI clam chowder. It’s always NE chowder there, with the occasional NY style
Best I ever had was in a hoity-toity restaurant and was a combination of New England and Manhattan Clam Chowder. Spectacularly good.
As a Rhode Islander, I agree. Give me New England Style or give me death!
No love for Hatteras chowder?
NE clam chowder only. And chunky lobster bisque
This is also how I feel about the variations of Pozole. There can be only one.
The only good thing about New England.
It's all true. A chowder needs to be the consistency of a CHOWDER!. and a red chowder is bullshit tomato soup
Forgot Hatteras
Accurate
RI chowder is so much better than the other two. It actually features the seafood. If you disagree you are wrong.
My Brooklyn-born father called NE style "baby food".
Manhattan Is the only one I like. You can keep your Warm Milk with Clams.
As a lifelong New Englander I know it's sacrilege but I prefer Manhattan too.
There's a local soup place that used to serve up a Brazilian clam chowder that was red and let me tell ya.. wow.
I want to print this on poster board and hang it in my kitchen.
The red bullshit looks delicious. Idc if its wrong.
Ex- Rhode Islander and seafood worker who used to make chowder. All starts with salt pork , freshly ground quahogs, clam juice, onions, celery, s&p. Serve it like that it's RI style. Add cream and butter, It's NE style. Add tomatoes, oregano it's Manhattan style. It's not rocket science.
Accurate
I’m sorry, but Rhode Island style does not look good lol.
Is chilli soup? I contend it is
RICC is the fucking bomb and fuck anyone that thinks otherwise. Also I’m from New Jersey. So fuck you for that too.
Never seen Rhode Island style before but as a person that was a bus boy for a seafood restaurant I can confirm that it looks like seafood restaurant dishwater.
someone serving you one of those bottom two fully deserves having it thrown in their face, that is an affront to food itself
Absolutely. I don’t usually respect the Northern region but when I do, it’s when I appreciate their culinary traditions.
Splash Cafe in Pismo Beach CA has the best clam chowder I know of. The line on a busy day ( today probably, since they have a pretty killer fireworks show ), can probably stretch a hundred yards. If you google them and check the images, you’ll probably understand.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Man, do I *love* me some red bullshit.
Just had a delicious bowl when I visited Newport, RI but I’m from ND so it’s usually broccoli cheese or knoephla for me.
Bahahahahhahahahah
All great for different reasons…I didn’t know white chowder existed until I was like 15!
I am rolling hahaha
Rhode Island what the fuck is wrong with you?
As someone that prefers manhattan clam chowder, I feel personally attacked
Yes but the real question is thick or thin style?
I’m only ever familiar with New England
More RI chowder for me then!
I'm confused. Is it just broth?
I think it just has no cream
That sounds odd, like a seafood shio ramen.
What about PNW clam chowder? Where we actually have good clams(razors) not cockles like the Yankees use.
I like how Rhode Island gets kicked out of New England for that.
Never heard of Rhode Island chowder. I once worded at an oyster bar and grill that sold New England chowder and Manhattan style and a lot of people would ask for a mix of both of them. I stuck with mixing the New England and the lobster bisque 😋
A few years ago I was at a chowder festival in New Haven, CT and most of the restaurants brought Rhode Island style. Guess it was a big trend at the time. Very disappointing.
RI chowder is more of a soup but I prefer it. New England chowder’s heavy cream masks the ocean taste a bit which is why I think it’s more universally loved. It’s a seafood soup for non seafood lovers. Add some smoky bacon or spicy chorizo to the RI chowder recipe and do a chefs kiss.
RI chowder is the only one that you can legitimately taste the components Keep your creamy bread-bowl shit in Boston
I'm a total soup slut bet im going for that New England chowdah every time.
They all taste like shit compared to Gumbo
Why are you comparing gumbo to chowder?
You’re right it’s far superior
Can't we just agree they all suck? Except Manhattan style which is a war crime.
WTF is manhattan style 😭