🇧🇸 Bahamas · The Bahamas
Bahamian conch chowder
A Bahamian tomato-based chowder of diced conch, potato, onion, celery, carrot and green pepper, flavoured with thyme and goat pepper, simmered long until the conch is tender.
Origin and history
Conch is described by the Nassau Paradise Island tourism body as the national food of The Bahamas, and a Nassau chef feature says the traditional Bahamian conch chowder is tomato-based and still widely available in Nassau; cream-style versions are modern fusions with New England clam chowder. The sources read give no date or origin for the chowder itself.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 6 servings
- Total time
- 2 h
- Hands-on
- 30 min
Ingredients
- 225 g8 oz cleaned conch meat, diced very fine (1/4 in), or ground, so it tenderises
- 85 g3 oz onion, diced 6 mm (1/4 in)
- 85 g3 oz celery, diced 6 mm (1/4 in)
- 85 g3 oz carrots, diced 6 mm (1/4 in)
- 85 g3 oz green bell pepper, diced 6 mm (1/4 in)
- 170 g6 oz potatoes, peeled, diced 6 mm (1/4 in)
- 60 ml1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp (about 30 g)2 tbsp (1 oz) tomato paste
- 2 medium (about 250 g)2 medium (9 oz) ripe tomatoes, chopped; the Bahamas Guide gives no amount, Noorder Nieuws uses a 14 oz can for 1 lb of conch and another recipe 2 large tomatoes
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme, the Bahamas Guide gives no amount; Noorder Nieuws uses 2 sprigs
- 1 Bahamian goat pepper or Scotch bonnet, halved or left whole; to taste
- 1 liter1 quart water, or fish stock
- salt, to taste
Method
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1. Heat the oil in a heavy pot and cook the onion, celery, carrots, green pepper and thyme for 3 minutes, stirring.
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2. Add the conch, the tomato paste and the chopped tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes, stirring often so the paste does not catch.
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3. Add the potatoes, the goat pepper and the water.
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4. Bring to a boil, then simmer gently for 1 1/2 hours, skimming now and then, until the conch is tender and the soup has body.
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5. Season with salt, remove the hot pepper once the heat is where you like it, and serve hot.
Notes
- Long, gentle cooking is what tenderises the conch. The cream-based and coconut versions found today are modern adaptations: a Nassau chef's cream chowder grinds the conch through a meat grinder, thickens with flour, cooks potatoes with thyme and goat pepper and tops it with toasted Johnny cake croutons; the Nassau Paradise Island tourism site adds coconut milk. This tomato version is the traditional form the Cacique feature contrasts them with.
- Serve with Johnny cake, a Bahamian baked bread: the Nassau chef feature tops its chowder with Johnny cake croutons and the tourism site suggests it warm with butter on the side.
- Other shellfish: the Bahamas Guide recipe says clams, scallops or shrimp can replace the conch. Other tomato-based recipes add lime juice at the end, garlic, or salt pork and ham; the amounts of tomato and thyme above come from them, because the Bahamas Guide leaves both unmeasured.
- Goat pepper is a hot Bahamian pepper close to Scotch bonnet; keep it whole for flavour with little heat.
- Frozen conch is widely available in the US and Europe; fine dicing or grinding matters more than the cut.
- Make ahead: the chowder keeps for two days and is better the next day.
Adapted from The Bahamas Guide, Bahamian recipes: Conch Chowder and Cacique International, Savour Cacique: New Providence Conch Chowder (Monica Hutchinson), 2019.
At the festivals
No festival we list has printed it on a menu yet.