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Every year on Christmas eve as a tradition we would make a large pot of clam chowder. Usually it's a family gathering event so we need a lot of it. For years my grandma made it. For a while my younger sister would make it until she moved out. After she moved out my older sister started making it. This year she isn't feeling very well so I made it.

Usually we use a large roasting pan for making turkey. Since it's pretty much just my sister, my grandpa, and myself I used a large soup pot. There will be a lot of leftovers. That's alright with me. I like clam chowder. This is the New England style which is white. The other kind is Manhattan which is red. This is cream based rather than tomato.

I started off with some chopped onion and bacon. Grandpa picked up thick sliced bacon and boy was it thick! Raw it was about 1/4 inch thick. Well maybe 3/16 of an inch. Anyway I chopped the onion and sliced the bacon into chunks. I threw about a tablespoon of butter in as a starting lubticant then threw in the onion and bacon. Then I added Italian herbs, a bay leaf, salt, pepper, and paprika then let the stuff fry for a while. Once the bacon started to brown a bit I poured the juice in from a large can of clams, then threw in diced potatoes, added chopped celery, then poured in a half gallon of milk and let it boil till the potatoes were cooked. When the potatoes were done I added the clams and about half a box of mashed potato flakes to thicken the mix. After a taste test I added more salt and pepper then served.

I feel really bad eating this. We didn't even drain the grease from the bacon. The chowder is good though. It's really thick though. It's cooled to an eatable temperature. The spoon I used to stir the chowder stands straight up in the pot. As it cools it will thicken more. The usual pot requires 2 packs of bacon and 2 large cans of clams. Well I guess more or less it requires doubling everything. I didn't really follow a set recipe so I have no idea what proportions were needed. I just added stuff as I thought it would be needed. If you took clams out of the mix this is really just a potato soup. Also mashed potato mix is a good thickener. Usually flour or corn starch are used. If you throw either one straight into the soup it clumps up and is pretty gross so it's best to mix with water before using. Still it can alter the taste of the soup. Since a large portion already included potato chunks the powder didn't make much difference taste wise. I was also able to pour the potato flakes in direct without any clumping.