My chef friend, Keith, has given me attitude about RI Clam Chowder since I met him. He calls it Dirty Clam Water. Even on his wedding day, he couldn’t resist throwing some shade. As a gift for being best man at his wedding, he gave me an antique silver soup spoon engraved with the words “Clam Water.” Nice one, Teeth. It’s okay, I have great sympathy for people who grew up on Snow’s Clam Goop in a can. He don’t know no better.

Clear broth clam chowder is one of those core summer memories of my childhood in Westerly. Every trip to Rocky Point, every roadside clam shack and almost every picnic featured it.

I don’t understand the attachment to milk/cream-based clam chowder; never have. Adding dairy to the broth just feels wrong in the dog days of summer. It’s too heavy. The clear broth with a healthy smattering of chopped clams, potatoes, onion and little bits of salt pork or bacon is downright refreshing, bracing even, on a scorching day in August. It’s almost like a whiff of sea breeze.

I guess you could say I’m an Originalist when it comes to my chowder. There weren’t any cows on the Mayflower. The Wampanoags weren’t picking up a gallon of milk at Cumbys on their way to the First Thanksgiving shindig. The first recorded U.S. recipe for a soup utilizing milk didn’t happen till 1796. And it was a split pea soup, not a chowder. So dairy doesn’t fit into my narrow definition of clam chowder.

My sense of colonial culinary obstinance has gotten worse since I started digging into my ancestry and found that I’m a direct descendant of the Elder John Crandall, one of the original nine settlers of Westerly, R.I., in 1661. Crandall was the founder of the Seventh Day Baptist church here in the U.S. Having left England for Massachusetts to freely practice his beliefs, he then left Massachusetts for Providence because the Puritan leadership publicly whipped him over his Baptist beliefs. In 1661 he split from the Providence colony to settle in Westerly because he wanted further religious autonomy from them. (He was later arrested and jailed in New London for running afoul of the Connecticut Puritan leadership.) I like to think that it is his DNA that makes my devotion to this simple peasant soup so puritanical. My take on the traditional RICC is very “clam forward”. Load it up!

46 oz can of Clam Juice (the big boy, not the eenie weenie bottles)

4 oz salt pork or 4 thick strips of bacon

3 lbs Russet Potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 lg white onion, chopped

1 lg stalk celery, chopped

2 Tbsp fresh parsley, minced

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 lbs freshly packed chopped clams (not canned)

salt to taste

1. Cook the salt pork or bacon in a stockpot over medium heat until the fat is rendered and meat is crispy, about 15 min. Remove the pork and drain, leaving the rendered fat in the pan.

2. Add the celery and onion to the pan drippings and cook about 4 minutes. Add the clam juice and bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, add the potatoes and cook covered, until the potatoes are “just” tender, about 12 minutes.

3. Turn the heat OFF and dump in all the clams and stir. (Why? It’s all about the heat exchange. Clams are safe to eat when cooked to 145°F, but a soup boils at 212°F. When I dropped the clams into the pot, they immediately cooled the chowder down to 165°F. Which leaves the clams cooked but completely tender. It makes a huge difference; don’t use canned clams and don’t bring it back to a simmer or a boil. If you do, you get rubbery clams and mushy potatoes. Trust me.)

4. Stir in the pork bits (or bacon), parsley and pepper and add salt if necessary. Serve immediately. Enjoy.

Cooking notes from the Elder John Crandall: Thee shall refrain from adding milk, cream thyme, corn, carrots, white wine, red potatoes or any of those goofy baby potatoes to this chowder, for it is an affront to the Almighty. Amen.

I was going to make this column a double header and include a recipe for clam fritters, but I got sidetracked with more testing, including a Pepe’s Clam Pizza-inspired variation with bacon and garlic. Watch this space ...

In my research on the Elder John Crandall, I found that he is also an ancestor of Lucille Ball, Katharine Hepburn, Garrison Keillor and Julia Child. How ’bout that?

The days of torrential rain alternating with sunny humid weather have been like steroids for my tomato and cucumber plants. Going to be very busy with the canning and saucing this year.

I’m slowly getting caught up with the series “The Bear.” I can only watch a couple episodes at a time; it gives me kitchen anxiety.

Rich Swanson is a local cook who has had numerous wins in nationally sponsored recipe contests. He is also the layout specialist here at The Day.

Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Rich Swanson can be reached at TheSurlyTable@gmail.com