Codfish Chowder

4 pounds fresh cod

2-inch cube of salt pork

1 onion, sliced

6 cups thinly sliced potatoes

4 cups milk

1 dessertspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper, freshly ground

1 ½ ounces butter

8 common crackers, split in half

Have your fishmonger clean and skin the fish. Be sure to ask for the head, tail, backbone and other trimmings. Cut the cod into 2-inch pieces and set aside. Put head, tail, and all the trimmings in a saucepan with 2 cups of water. Heat to boiling point, then reduce heat, and cook slowly about 20 minutes. Cut salt pork in small chunks and fry over a low heat until crisp. Stir in onion slices and cook until limp. Parboil potato slices for 5 minutes (use enough boiling water to cover). Drain. Add the potatoes and 2 cups of boiling water to salt-pork mixture. Cook 5 minutes. Add liquid drained from fish bones, then add the cod. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Scald milk, pour into fish mixture, and add salt, pepper, butter, and crackers. Heat until piping hot. Serves 6 to 8.

Four tablespoons of onions, fried with pork. One quart of boiled potatoes, well mashed. One and a half pounds sea biscuit, broken. One teaspoonful of thyme, mixed with one of summer savory. Half-bottle of mushroom catsup. One bottle of port or claret. Half a nutmeg, grated. A few cloves, mace, and alspice. Six pounds of fish, sea-bass or cod, cut in slices. Twenty-five oysters, a little black pepper, and a few slices of lemon. The whole put in a pot and covered with, an inch of water, boiled for an hour, and gently stirred.

- Daniel Webster's chowder recipe, from The Cook, 1885