Chowder

Chowder is any of a variety of soups, most of them thick. To some Americans,
it means clam chowder, made with cream or milk in most places, or with
tomato as "Manhattan clam chowder." Corn chowder is a thick soup filled with
whole corn (maize) kernels. Chowder is often commonly associated with the
New England region of the United States.

The word chowder comes from the French word chaud, meaning hot.

The recipe below for "New England chowder" is, oddly, not a clam chowder.

New England Chowder

Have a good haddock, cod, or any other solid fish; cut it in pieces three
inches square, put a pound of fat salt pork in strips into the pot, set it
on hot coals and fry out the oil; take out the pork and put in a layer of
fish, over that a layer of onions in slices, then a layer of fish with slips
of fat salt pork, then another layer of onions, and so on alternately until
your fish is consumed; mix some flour with as much water as will fill the
pot; season with black pepper and salt to your taste, and boil it for half
an hour. Have ready some crackers (Philadelphia pilot bread if you can get
it) soaked in water till they are a little softened; throw them into your
chowder five minutes before you take it up. Serve in a tureen.

Daniel Webster's Chowder

Four tablespoonfuls of onions, fried with pork; a quart of boiled potatoes
well mashed; 1 1/2 pounds of sea biscuit broken; 1 teaspoonful of thyme
mixed with one of summer savory: 1/2 bottle of mushroom catsup; one bottle
of port or claret; 1/4 of a nutmeg, grated; a few cloves, mace, and
allspice; 6 pounds fish (sea-bass or cod), cut into slices; 25 oysters, a
little black pepper, and a few slices of lemon. The whole put in a pot and
covered with an inch of water, boiled for an hour and gently stirred.