Minorcan Clam Chowder

Updated April 17, 2025

Recipe Details

• Total Time: 1 hour

• Prep Time: 15 minutes

• Cook Time: 45 minutes

• Rating: Not specified

• Read Comments: [View user feedback below]

Ingredients

• 1 pound red potatoes (unpeeled), diced into ¾-inch pieces

• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped

• 1 large celery stalk, roughly chopped

• ½ small green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

• 1/3 pound salt pork, diced

• 1¼ cups (10 ounces) tomato purée

• 1¼ cups (10 ounces) crushed tomatoes

• 2 bay leaves

• 1¼ teaspoons Italian seasoning

• 1¼ teaspoons dried marjoram

• 1¼ teaspoons dried thyme

• 1¼ teaspoons black pepper

• 5 cups (40 ounces) bottled or canned clam juice

• 1–2 datil peppers (or habanero chiles; see Tips), finely diced

• 1 pound chopped clams (frozen and thawed or fresh)

• Salt

Preparation

1. Boil Potatoes: Bring a medium saucepan of water to a rolling boil. Add the diced red potatoes and cook until nearly tender—a thin knife should pierce the flesh easily without fully penetrating the center—about 7 minutes. Drain and set aside.

2. Process Vegetables: Meanwhile, in a food processor, pulse the onion, celery, and bell pepper until they reach a nearly puréed consistency (retain slight texture for body).

3. Render Salt Pork: In a large, heavy-bottomed pot (e.g., Dutch oven), cook the diced salt pork over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the fat is rendered and the pork develops a golden-brown crust, about 6–8 minutes.

4. Sauté Vegetables & Tomatoes: Add the processed vegetables to the pot and cook, stirring frequently, until most of their moisture evaporates (about 3 minutes). Incorporate the tomato purée and crushed tomatoes, stirring constantly to prevent scorching, until the mixture thickens into a chunky, concentrated sauce—about 10 minutes.

5. Combine Base Ingredients: Add the cooked potatoes, bay leaves, Italian seasoning, marjoram, thyme, and black pepper. Stir to combine. Pour in the clam juice and simmer over medium-low heat (soft simmer) for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure even cooking.

6. Finish with Peppers & Clams: Add the datil peppers and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes to blend flavors. In the final 3–5 minutes of cooking, gently stir in the chopped clams to warm them through. Taste and adjust with salt if needed.

Tips

• Datil Peppers: Essential to Minorcan cuisine, datil peppers are close relatives of habanero chiles with a similar Scoville heat unit (SHU) profile but a sweeter, fruitier flavor. They ripen in June near St. Augustine, Florida, and can be sourced seasonally from Mayhem Datil Pepper Farms.

• Substitutions: If datil peppers are unavailable, substitute with 1 habanero pepper (seeded for milder heat) and a pinch of sugar to balance sweetness.

• Clams: Fresh clams are ideal, but thawed frozen clams work well; drain excess liquid before adding.

User Comments

• Flagler College Student: "I attended the Minorcan festival at Flagler and tasted this chowder—it’s magic! Datil peppers are irreplaceable for authenticity; never substitute with a sauce. Habanero + sugar works if datils are unavailable."

• Recipe Enthusiast: "Thank you for publishing Mrs. Master’s recipe! I made it today—it’s now a permanent weekly rotation. A habanero substituted perfectly for datils, and the clam juice added brightness. The bay leaves and herbs created a depth I’ll never forget."

• Datil Advocate: "Agree with the flavor note! I purchased datil vinegar from Minorcan Mike’s at the St. Augustine Farmer’s Market and refill it with white vinegar yearly. Their online shop ( ships nationally."

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