There are some places you visit once and somehow carry with you forever.
For me, Martha’s Vineyard is one of them.
One Labor Day weekend in 2011, I stepped off the ferry and promptly fell in love —
with the salty air, weathered shingles, hydrangeas spilling over fences,
sailboats bobbing in the harbor and that wonderful feeling that life moves at a slightly different speed once you arrive on an island.
And then there was the chowder.
Not just any clam chowder, but a steaming bowl of Quahog Chowder from The Black Dog Tavern in Vineyard Haven — rich and creamy with potatoes, smoky salt pork, onion and celery and, of course, plenty of briny New England quahogs.
One spoonful and it tasted like New England.
Years later, it’s still one of those recipes that immediately transports me back to Martha’s Vineyard.
The New England Charm of Martha’s Vineyard
Martha’s Vineyard has a wonderful ability to feel both glamorous and wonderfully unpolished.
There are six distinctive towns across the island, each with its own personality — from the historic sea-captain houses and white clapboard architecture of Edgartown
to the colorful gingerbread cottages of Oak Bluffs, the fishing village of Menemsha and the rural lanes, farms and stone walls of West Tisbury.
Then there’s Vineyard Haven.
Part of the town of Tisbury, Vineyard Haven is a working harbor and the island’s primary year-round port.
Ferries glide in and out alongside sailboats and working vessels, while shops, galleries and restaurants line the streets beyond the waterfront.
And sitting right on that harbor is one of Martha’s Vineyard’s most recognizable landmarks: The Black Dog Tavern.
The Story Behind The Black Dog Tavern
Long before that familiar black-dog silhouette appeared on T-shirts across America, there was Captain Robert Douglas,
his sailing vessel Shenandoah and an actual black dog.
Douglas sailed Shenandoah to Martha’s Vineyard in 1964. A Black Lab–Boxer mix named Black Dog eventually became his almost constant companion.
The idea for The Black Dog Tavern began in 1969 when Douglas imagined a welcoming year-round restaurant where islanders and visitors could gather over good food and conversation.
The Tavern opened in Vineyard Haven in 1971, and chowder was part of the story from the beginning.
More than half a century later, The Black Dog has become synonymous with Martha’s Vineyard, but I still love the simplicity of its origin: a sailor, his dog, the sea and the desire to create a welcoming place to feed people.
Which brings us to that chowder.
What Is a Quahog?
If you didn’t grow up around coastal New England, you may be wondering:
What exactly is a quahog?
Pronounced roughly KO-hog, a quahog is the Northern hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria), a thick-shelled clam native to the Atlantic coast.
Unlike the thin-shelled soft clams New Englanders commonly call steamers, quahogs have sturdy shells and firmer, flavorful meat.
Hard clams are often named according to size. Smaller specimens are commonly sold as littlenecks and cherrystones, while larger hard clams are often referred to as quahogs or chowder clams.
And there’s a reason for that name.
Their larger, firmer meat is perfect for chopping into chowder, where its distinctly briny flavor can stand up to potatoes, cream, herbs and smoky pork.
It’s difficult to imagine a more quintessentially New England ingredient.
The Black Dog Tavern’s Quahog Chowder Recipe
This recipe is from The Black Dog: Summer on the Vineyard Cookbook, which I bought during that memorable Martha’s Vineyard trip in 2011.
It’s creamy, comforting and wonderfully satisfying without requiring complicated technique. If you’re working with fresh quahogs, you’ll need a little extra prep time, but the fresh-from-the-sea flavor is absolutely worth it.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Yield: 8–10 servings
Ingredients
2 ounces salt pork, diced, or 8–10 slices pancetta or thick-cut bacon, diced
2 cups diced yellow onion
1 cup diced celery
3 cups peeled and diced potatoes
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 cups shelled quahogs with reserved juice, roughly chopped, or minced clams
2 cups fresh or frozen sweet corn kernels
½ cup (1 stick) salted butter
½ cup all-purpose flour
1½ quarts light cream, or a combination of heavy cream and half-and-half
Paprika, for garnish
Garlic-Herb Butter Croutons, for serving (recipe follows)
How to Make Quahog Chowder
1. Cook the salt pork.
Add the diced salt pork or bacon to a large, heavy-bottomed soup pot and cook until the fat begins to render.
If using bacon, cook until done, drain off most of the fat and leave approximately 2 tablespoons in the pot.
Add the onions and celery and sauté for about 5 minutes, until softened and aromatic.
2. Add the potatoes.
Pour approximately 1½ cups of reserved clam juice into the pot.
Add the potatoes, thyme and black pepper. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for approximately 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are just tender.
3. Make the roux.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan.
Once bubbling, whisk in the flour and cook for approximately 5 minutes, stirring frequently. You want to cook away the raw flour flavor without significantly browning the roux.
4. Add the quahogs.
Roughly chop the quahog meat, if necessary, reserving any additional liquid.
Add the quahogs and sweet corn to the chowder and gently simmer for about 2 minutes.
5. Thicken the chowder.
Stir the prepared roux into the chowder base and continue simmering for approximately 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
6. Heat the cream.
In a separate saucepan, heat the cream until small bubbles begin appearing around the edges.
Do not allow it to boil.
7. Finish the chowder.
Slowly stir the hot cream into the chowder base.
Warm everything through, taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary. Remember that the quahogs and salt pork already contribute plenty of salinity, so taste before adding additional salt.
Ladle into warm bowls and finish with paprika and a generous handful of homemade garlic-herb butter croutons.
If you’re feeling particularly indulgent, add a little pat of butter on top and let it melt right into the chowder.
Ways to Customize New England Clam Chowder
One of the wonderful things about chowder is that there’s plenty of room to make it your own.
For an extra-seafood New England chowder, add chunks of cod, haddock or another firm white fish during the final few minutes of cooking.
Scallops or shrimp would also be delicious.
Or take the Vineyard experience north to Maine and fold in generous pieces of lobster meat just before serving.
For a more vegetable-forward late-summer chowder, try adding:
- Extra fresh sweet corn
- Diced carrots
- Leeks
- Fresh chives
- Parsley
- Fresh thyme
If you prefer a lighter chowder, replace some of the cream with whole milk or half-and-half and reduce the amount of roux slightly for a thinner, more broth-forward consistency.
And although bacon is delicious, traditional salt pork gives the chowder a subtler, old-fashioned New England flavor.
Whatever you add, don’t overwhelm the clams.
A great New England chowder should still taste unmistakably of the sea.
Homemade Garlic-Herb Butter Croutons
These may just ruin ordinary oyster crackers for you.
They become golden and crunchy in the oven, then soak up just enough chowder around the edges while remaining crisp in the center.
Ingredients
4 cups rustic sourdough or country bread, cut into approximately ¾-inch cubes
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely grated or minced
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
½ teaspoon flaky or kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of paprika, optional
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Melt the butter with the olive oil over low heat.
Add the garlic and cook for approximately 30 seconds, just until fragrant. Don’t let the garlic brown.
Remove from the heat and stir in the thyme and parsley.
Place the bread cubes in a large bowl and toss with the garlic-herb butter, salt, pepper and paprika.
Spread the croutons in a single layer on a baking sheet.
Bake for 12–18 minutes, tossing halfway through, until crisp and deeply golden.
Fair warning: make extra. They’re dangerously snackable straight from the sheet pan.
What to Serve with Clam Chowder
Because creamy chowder is rich, I like pairing it with something cool, crunchy and acidic.
Simple Vineyard Summer Salad
Ingredients
5 ounces baby greens, butter lettuce or mixed tender lettuces
½ English cucumber, thinly sliced
4 radishes, thinly sliced
¼ small red onion or shallot, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
Fresh dill or parsley
Lemon-Dijon Vinaigrette
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon honey
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon and honey and season to taste.
Toss lightly with the greens and vegetables immediately before serving.
That’s it.
Keep the salad simple and bright and let the chowder remain the star of the show.
Best Wines to Pair with New England Clam Chowder
Rich, creamy clam chowder calls for a wine with enough acidity to refresh your palate between bites.
A few favorites:
Muscadet Sèvre et Maine — Crisp, mineral and wonderfully seafood-friendly. This would probably be my first choice.
Sancerre or Sauvignon Blanc — Citrus, herbs and bright acidity make this especially good with briny shellfish.
Unoaked Chardonnay — A softer pairing whose restrained richness complements the creamy chowder without becoming too heavy.
Albariño — Saline, citrusy and practically begging to be served with shellfish.
Brut sparkling wine — Because bubbles + butter + bacon + seafood + crunchy croutons is a combination I’m never going to argue with.
Serve any of them well chilled and preferably somewhere with a harbor view.
Or at least an open window.
Martha’s Vineyard Beer Pairings
If you’re more of a beer-with-chowder person, keep things refreshing rather than overly heavy.
Offshore Ale Company in Oak Bluffs is Martha’s Vineyard’s year-round brewpub. A crisp golden ale or approachable pale ale is a natural match for creamy seafood chowder.
Bad Martha Farmer’s Brewery in Edgartown is another fun island stop, with a brewery and beer garden tucked into a nursery setting that feels particularly Vineyard-ish on a summer afternoon.
Beyond the island, a crisp New England lager, Kölsch-style ale, blonde ale, wheat beer or balanced pale ale would all work beautifully.
Save the monster double IPA for another night. This dinner is about the quahogs.
More New England Chowder Recipes to Try
Once you’ve gone down the chowder rabbit hole, there’s really no reason to stop at one bowl.
Try Ina Garten’s East Hampton Clam Chowder, which incorporates carrots along with onions, celery, potatoes and thyme.
Chef Jasper White, one of the chefs most closely associated with modern New England seafood cooking, offers a traditional New England Fish Chowder using salt pork, potatoes, herbs and fish stock.
For a more contemporary interpretation, chef Michael Anthony’s New England Clam Chowder adds leeks, fennel, shrimp and dashi.
You can also try a classic Food Network New England Clam Chowder made with littleneck clams, bacon, fresh thyme, potatoes and half-and-half.
A Little Martha’s Vineyard Magic at Home
I first shared this recipe back in 2011 after returning from that Labor Day weekend with my Black Dog cookbook,
plenty of photographs and what apparently became a permanent affection for Martha’s Vineyard.
Read the Original post on artful gourmet blog
View my Slideshow of photos from Martha’s Vineyard
Slideshow of photos from Boston
All these years later, I think that’s what I still love about recipes collected while traveling.
They’re souvenirs you can cook.
So make this chowder on one of those late-summer evenings when the sunlight begins changing ever so slightly.
Open the windows.
Put a bottle of white wine on ice.
Toss together the salad.
Toast the croutons until your kitchen smells like garlic and butter.
Then ladle the chowder into big bowls and imagine Vineyard Haven harbor just outside — sailboat masts against the evening sky, ferry horns in the distance, salt in the air and nowhere particularly urgent to be.
Maybe that’s the real taste of Martha’s Vineyard.
Not simply clams, cream and potatoes.
It’s summer slowing down before it slips away.
And if you can’t make it to the island this year, a really good bowl of chowder isn’t a bad place to start.
Want the story behind the story?
I revisited my original Martha’s Vineyard trip in a more personal essay over on The Artful Gourmet Substack, with even more island inspiration and late-summer food storytelling.
And if you’d like to make your own little piece of Martha’s Vineyard at home, look for The Black Dog: Summer on the Vineyard Cookbook, the cookbook that inspired this recipe.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Purchasing through my affiliate link helps support The Artful Gourmet at no additional cost to you.
Until next time — cook something delicious, pour something cold and savor what’s left of summer.
Enjoy!
xo, Kristen
Other recipes you might enjoy:
Autumn Harvest Chicken & Veggies
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