I was taught two ways of making a chowder, quickly...,
Tomato Based:
Four cans of V-8, low salt, vegetable juice
two packs of frozen assorted seafood*....(more if you want more protein)
two potatoes cubed
Old Bay seasoning to taste.
Bring the juice to a boil, open the frozen seafood packages and dump them in, and the potatoes and boil.
(You can add celery, or macaroni, or rice or anything else that you might want.)
frozen assorted seafood: We get this in the freezer next to the fresh seafood counter at the market, and it's a package of assorted odd bits, oysters, small shrimp, a few calamari rings, some cuttlefish bits, a few clams, and such. Great for a soup or chowder.
Milk Based:
6 cups whole milk
Instant mashed potatoes
and the rest of the ingredients as listed in the first recipe above, you're just using the milk instead of the V-8 for the base, but don't boil it, because of the milk-fat. Heat up to about 190 - 200 degrees for about an hour.
You use the instant mashed potato to thicken the milk base if you wish. Some folks like their milk based chowder thicker than they do when it's tomato based. :wink:
LD