Chowder Choices Split
When the weather starts turning clammy, it means another soup season is right around the corner.
As an early inoculation against the coming chill, we fed a trio of supermarket clam chowders to The Spokesman-Review’s reader food panel: canned offerings from Progresso and Campbell’s (the latter low-fat), and a take-home version of the Ivar’s restaurant recipe from Seattle.
The relatively plain-Jane Progresso was a narrow favorite over the pricier, refrigerated Ivar’s concentrate, to which you add milk (we compromised and used 2 percent).
While the Progresso scores were consistently middle-of-the-road, Ivar’s was more of a love-hate proposition, with some panelists praising its sweet, smoky notes and others calling it cloying and too heavy on the bacon.
The only clear verdict came on the overly thick, celery-accented Campbell’s chowder. To our panel, at least, celery is not an acceptable substitute for fat.
As an accompaniment, we served three brands of oyster crackers, hoping panel members would be able to discern some differences.
That turned out to be no problem, thanks to the ringer in the bunch: O.T.C. (Original Trenton Crackers). When we opened the box, out popped the Mark McGwire of the oyster cracker world (although andrestenedione wasn’t listed among the ingredients), big and bulky but far from a hit - much less a home run - with the panel.
(The highlight was a diagram explaining how to crush the crackers by holding two in one hand and grinding them together, which we decided would practically require the strength of a Mark McGwire.)
Among the more traditional competitors, a Western Family store brand finished in a dead heat with the larger, saltier Nabisco crackers, with their differences less apparent once they were swimming in soup.
And the Western Family crackers cost half as much - no small consideration if you’re trying to save a few clams.
Progresso New England Clam Chowder
Price: $1.84 for 18.5 ounces, or 2 (1-cup) servings.
Nutrition: 190 calories (47 percent fat calories); 920 milligrams sodium per serving.
Taste: ***
Value: ***
Comments: “Nice chunks of potato and chewy clams.” - Karen Buck
“Creamy, lots of chunks of potatoes. Needs some extra spices to oomph it up! Not a lot of clams in the clam chowder.” - Ann Finke
Ivar’s Original Recipe Clam Chowder
Price: $3.89 for 12 ounces (plus 32 cents for milk); makes 3 (1-cup) servings.
Nutrition (using 2 percent milk): 255 calories (37 percent fat calories); 703 milligrams sodium per serving.
Taste: ***
Value: **
Comments: “This is close to what my Norwegian ancestry can claim as clam chowder! I liked it.” - Eileen Bakken
“More of a bacon chowder than clam. Has an annoying sweet flavor at the end.” - Rich Clemson
Campbell’s Home Cookin’ 98 Percent Fat Free New England Clam Chowder
Price: $1.99 for 19 ounces, or 2 (1-cup) servings.
Nutrition: 120 calories (25 percent fat calories); 850 milligrams sodium per serving.
Taste: *
Value: **
Comments: “Tastes like a very thick celery something. Not good.” - Bob Bates
“Something is fishy here. It looks like cream gravy - thick cream gravy at that! Clam up if anyone tries to serve you this.” - Tina Johnson
Western Family Oyster Crackers
Price: $1.17 for 12 ounces, or 23 (35-cracker) servings.
Nutrition: 70 calories (29 percent fat calories); 150 milligrams per serving.
Taste: ***
Value: ****
Comments: “Not the best-looking, but tasty and cracker-like. I like these!” - Sandy Davidson
“What can I say about these little crackers? They stack well?” - Beverly Smick
Nabisco Premium Soup & Oyster Crackers
Price: $2.49 for 10 ounces, or 19 (23-cracker) servings.
Nutrition: 60 calories (25 percent fat calories); 230 milligrams sodium per serving.
Taste: ***
Value: ***
Comments: “Tastes like saltine crackers but cut into round, flat shapes.” - Jeannie Coffey
“Tasty, but would be more visually appealing if they were six-sided instead of merely round. (Picky, aren’t I?)” - Helen Span
O.T.C. Oyster & Soup Crackers
Price: $2.92 for 10 ounces, or 18 (3-cracker) servings.
Nutrition: 60 calories (17 percent fat calories); 172 milligrams sodium in 3 crackers.
Taste: *
Value: *
Comments: “Stale aftertaste, much too large in size … ‘Old Tasteless Cardboard.”’ - Rob Jasperson
“These things are hilarious. They are definitely not oyster crackers - they’re round, they’re weird and yet oddly compelling.” - Catherine Lunt Greer