Bacon, clams, potatoes, celery, parsley, milk and lemon juice - all are items essential for a great clam chowder. Corn starch, no thank you! Carrots: really? When I think of clam chowder I imagine a rich, roux-based thickened soup with lots of clams, soft potatoes, a hint of smoky bacon and a touch of tart lemon juice or white wine finished with a bite of hot pepper sauce or white pepper. I love clam chowder!

I have experience with this bivalve soup. As a 17-year-old rookie cook in a seafood restaurant, my job was to shuck hundreds of oysters, devein 200 shrimp and cook five gallons of clam chowder each day. The recipe was simple but the process complex. Saute, roux, emulsification, scald and simmer not boiled were all new terms for a kid more concerned with playing guitar and girls than the culinary arts.

"Your chowder has lumps," (the roux not incorporated correctly with the base) the chef yells as a customer complains. "Sorry chef," I respond daily trying to understand how to cook perfect chowder with little experience. James, the executive chef at Kindland Cove teaches, "Did you use a wooden spoon or a whisk to incorporate the roux with the milk?"

"A whisk," I respond. "There is your problem," James continues, "Take a wooden spoon and stir the roux while slowly adding the milk or stock. Use the wooden spoon to press the thickening roux into the side of the pot ensuring all lumps are gone." I nod watching James demonstrate the proper technique for incorporating a liquid to a roux and am amazed at his skills.

The next morning, while making chowder I again grab the whisk knowing it takes half the time as a wooden spoon to incorporate the milk with the roux. This time I concentrate to ensure all lumps are whisked away with brutal force.

I add potatoes, notice lumps and whisk again damaging the integrity of the starch then destroy each clam's wholeness whisking once more. My chowder has no lumps, no whole potato cubes, broken clams pieces and looks like I placed it in a blender (which I did once but will never admit it to James).

Cooking food correctly is important and being a culinary artist, I must (should) follow proper technique. I've tasted many types of chowder prepared improperly and send my compliments to the chef when I taste chowder that is prepared properly.

This summer I am on a quest - to determine if New England clam chowder from New England is different than clam chowder from Seattle, Portland and San Francisco, Bend, Ore., the Napa Valley or Coeur d'Alene. My result surprises me.

The chowder at Emmett's Irish Pub in Boston, The Clam Box, in Auburn, Mass., Market restaurant in St. Helena, Calif., Ivar restaurant (the indoors, sit down restaurant, not the walk-up) in Seattle, Pastini Pastaria's special soup of the day in Bend and Gilbert's Chowder house in Portland, Ore., all have great chowder, prepared properly. Some chowder are smoky with ridiculous amounts of bacon, some taste of the ocean with essence of clam juice, fish sauce and lots of cherrystones while others balanced their soup with subtle flavors and creamy-smooth broth. The verdict; West Coast chowder is every bit as tasty as New England chowder.

The only tasty chowder missing from my culinary journey is one from Coeur d'Alene. I've done my best to find a tasty soup from my hometown to no prevail. Why can Coeur d'Alene create an incredible gumbo (Moontime) but not chowder? Every time I see chowder as a special on a menu in Coeur d'Alene I order it finding it not special.

Chefs of Coeur d'Alene, please rescue me. Create delicious chowder and I will be your best customer. Please, help out an old cook! If you need a little push, I offer my favorite chowder recipe to serve in your restaurant but, if you prepare it, you must invite me for a tasting; please!

Ingredients

2 oz. salt pork

1/2 large onion, chopped

1 stock celery

2 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1 pt. chicken stock

1 pt. clam juice

1/2 cup white wine

2 medium Idaho russet potatoes cubed

3/4 cup half and half or heavy cream

Kosher salt and ground white pepper, to taste

1 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley

Squeeze of lemon to taste

Preparation

Cut the salt pork into about 1/4-inch cubes. Add the pork to a heavy-bottomed saucepot or soup pot and heat slowly over a low heat until the fat is liquefied. Add the chopped onion and celery and cook over a medium heat until translucent but not brown. Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon while it's absorbed into the pork fat, making a roux. Slowly whisk in the stock and clam juice making sure the roux is fully incorporated into the liquid. Keep stirring while the mixture comes to a boil and then add the wine. Add the potatoes and simmer 15 minutes or until you can easily pierce the potatoes with a knife. While waiting for the potatoes to cook, heat the half and half or heavy cream in a small saucepan. You want it hot (but not boiling) so when you add it to the soup, it won't cool down the chowder. Add the hot half and half or heavy cream and bring the chowder back to a simmer for just a moment. Season to taste with Kosher salt and white pepper (maybe a few splashes of Tabasco), mix in chopped parsley and a squeeze of lemon and serve right away.

If you wish to comment or offer suggestions, please email Bill Rutherford at bprutherford@hotmail.com.