I made clam-and-ham chowder today. I started with about 1/2 cup of Half-and-Half (half cream, half milk, typically used as a coffee creamer), added a can of clams, including the water, and then chopped about half a cup of ham into it.
For additional flavor I added about a tablespoon of cream cheese and 1/4 teaspoon of Old Bay seasoning.
The result? YUM. (Though the cream cheese didn’t fully dissolve, and didn’t seem to help the flavor any).
–Howard
second the “yum”
Though I’d have left out the ham. Is the Old Bay seasoning the spicy one? I love adding ground red pepper to clam chowder…
I LOVE Old Bay seasoning. You can’t find it here in the west.
Or in the south, for that matter.
I live in Texas and can get it at Sun Harvest.
“We eat ham and clam and spamaloooooooooot!”
I’ve found that a little bit of cheddar, melted in right as you finish cooking, does wonders for chowder-type soups.
Don’t chowders involve potatoes? How does that work?
For added flavor next time, instead of the cream cheese (which is generally too solid to properly dissolve into a semi-liquid like your clam-ham chowder) you may want instead to try either sour cream or yogurt. The result should be a bit of a bite added to the flavor and a slight thickening, without having chunks of it floating around.
And a tablespoon for the amount you mentioned wouldn’t do much to the flavor. You’d likely need an eighth to a quarter cup (2-4 tablespoons) to get a good effect.
Conversely, as mentioned above, a “chowder” generally involves potatoes. However, you could use a larger amount of the cream cheese chunked-up in your recipe to take the place of the potato chunks of regular clam chowder.
Looks like you’ve answered the question, “Is it yum?”
Adding ham to clam chowder is certainly within the tradition here in New England, where salt pork or bacon is commonly included for extra flavor. I’d miss the potatoes, though (being sadly addicted to carbs).