New England Cod Chowder

With minor variations, this is a typical chowder from Maine on the north-eastern seaboard of the USA, The word ‘chowder’ comes from the old French chaudron, a large pot in which the fishermen would stew whatever they did not sell for their supper. Precisely when milk was first used in America, rather than fish broth, is not known but it was probably in the eighteenth century.

Here I have used a roux to thicken the cooking liquid, in place of the traditional c