Clam Chowder

Clam chowder:  any of several chowder soups in American cuisine containing clams. In addition to clams, common ingredients include diced potatoes, salt pork, and onions. Other vegetables are not typically used.

Corn bread:  a quick bread made with cornmeal, associated with the cuisine of the Southern United States, with origins in Native American cuisine. (Wikipedia)

Combine these two Southern specialties and you have the basis for an event that we have enjoyed for a number of years, the Clam Chowder Cookoff, a fund-raiser for the N. C. Maritime Museum in Beaufort.  The 12th Annual Cookoff took place as usual in the Harvey W. Smith Watercraft Center, a roomy boatbuilding facility on the waterfront that showcases the art of boatbuilding.  And, Friday night, the art of clam chowder and corn bread building. 

 
As in past years, we arrived early and picked up our ballots at the door.  The building filled up fast as chowder aficionados with keen appetites circled the watercraft center to sample four chowders and four corn breads in color-coded bowls to make judging easier.  

The doors were open to the harbor outside, and the sun was setting over Beaufort harbor, a picturesque backdrop for the evening.  Dawn Freeman was sitting closest to the open doors (corn bread by her friend Michelle Stout, set up across the room).  Her chowder was our Number One choice last year and, as it turned out, this year too.  

Dawn makes classic “Downeast” or Hatteras-style chowder (as opposed to New England or Manhattan), with a clear broth and the simple ingredients of clams, bacon, onions, and potatoes, but it is flavored perfectly.  Last year, one of the chowders was so thick (New England style) that a plastic spoon could nearly stand up in it.  That was not the case this year.  Although some of the chowders had extra ingredients (like corn), all of them were variations of the classic Hatteras-style.

I did not take a picture of the ballot - Martha took all of the pictures in this post except the Watercraft Center building - but that's Dawn's chowder in the blue cup, and Michelle's scrumptious corn bread (the loaf-shaped one) in the blue paper.  As of today (Sunday), no winner has been announced.  I suppose it takes awhile to count all of the ballots.  But I can assure the reader that it will be a free and fair election, and nobody will challenge the results.  Downeasters are honest people.

It was a wonderful evening, and we drove back across the bridges to Morehead City and then to Atlantic Beach with the western horizon still faintly red from that spectacular sunset.