a tale of two chowders

I promised you tales of my travels, and finally here we go. This summer I was lucky enough to go to Ireland for the first time. I expected to enjoy it, of course, but I didn’t expect to fall in love with it.

I did.

The people, the countryside, the food, the cider, it was all wonderful. Especially the chowder.

The first night, after a long plane ride, I was happy to eat at the hotel. I needed food, but not too much, so I asked if I could just have the seafood chowder appetizer. Of course, no problem. Cup or bowl I asked, and the server motioned something in between with his hands. Fine.

It was a perfect serving. Hot, creamy, full of fish, mussels, other seafood bits, and just a few (very few!) chunks of potato, it was the perfect elixer for a good night’s sleep.

Based on this, I made it a point to try it everywhere it was offered, and in Ireland that meant most everywhere!

Here are two of the versions. You can find plenty of recipes for Irish seafood chowder out there, but (in my opinion) any that call for olive oil rather than butter can’t really be trusted. 🙂

hotel chowder (mmm!)

one of many I tried in the interest of research (mmm)

They were all wonderful. If you have access to good fresh fish and seafood and want a hearty (but somehow not heavy, how do they do that?) meal, I highly recommend trying this!

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