10 ounces canned clams
4 slices bacon, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1-1/2 cups water
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 cups half and half cream
3 tablespoons butter
salt and pepper

1. Place bacon in a large pot over medium-high heat and cook until almost crisp.
2. Reduce the heat to medium, add the onions to the pot and cook in the bacon fat until tender, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the potatoes and water and bring to a boil. Cook uncovered until potatoes are fork tender, about 20 minutes.
4. Season the broth with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the cream and butter. Adjust seasoning as necessary.
6. Add the clams and half of the liquid and allow to heat thoroughly. Serve immediately.

Makes 8 servings

10 ounces canned clams plus water
16 ounces diced tomatoes
1 small onion, chopped
2 small potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper

1. Drain clams and reserve liquid, adding enough water to make 3 cups of clam stock.
2. Heat clam stock in a large pot over medium heat and add tomatoes, onions and potatoes. Cover and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.
3. Reduce the heat to low and gently mash some of the potatoes to thicken the broth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Stir in the clams and allow to heat thoroughly, then serve immediately.

Makes 6 servings

There are two types of commercially made clam chowders available where I live; New England and Manhattan. The New England version is the most popular and served up in most restaurants on Fridays, having the thick, cream based broth. The Manhattan is the lesser-known, lesser-loved tomato based one. I've always preferred the New England style to the Manhattan one, but there are definitely very good New England chowders and very good ones available. I decided to make them both in my own kitchen and decide once and for all which is the superior chowder. I sought out the two simplest versions I could find and went to work.

I've made 2 previous attempts at making New England style chowder; the first was awesome, the second was awful. I already had a bias for the cream based variety and previous experience making it to be boot, so the Manhattan chowder was the true underdog. Since neither takes particularly long to cook, it wasn't difficult preparing both at the same time. When it came time to add the clams I made sure to carefully salt each broth with sips of water in between to have optimal sodium levels and ensure that it was as good as it was going to get. Then, I added the cooked clams, waited until the broth had warmed then and put both soups into bowls.

I tasted the New England Clam Chowder first. It had essentially all the qualities I enjoy about clam chowder. It was rich and creamy with nice chunks of potatoes and nice meaty clams that are just so pleasing to the palette. The Manhattan Clam Chowder was, of course, not rich and creamy, which is what I've grown to love about clam chowder to begin with. However, it was surprisingly better than I remember it being, and I could actually see myself enjoy it as maybe a pasta sauce, since that's the only place tomatoes and clams will ever meet again in my kitchen.

Obviously not being a fair judge of the truly superior chowder, I decided to seek an unbiased opinion. Shannon, who loathes clam chowder in any form, decided that both are nasty before even tasting them. Thus, I have to go with my original verdict; New England clam chowder is superior to the Manhattan version. This essentially solves nothing, since both chowders had the same ingredients (the same potatoes, the same clams, the same water, salt and pepper) with the only real difference between tomato versus cream. Since I prefer cream soups to tomato ones, I suppose that I could've just went with my previous notion that the New England style is better, but what fun would that have been?