I received a free bag of frozen Alaskan Polluck fillets earlier in the week, and immediately upon acquisition thought - Polluck means fish soup. Why did I immediately think this? It was my gut reaction.

Upon further research, it turns out my gut was spot-on and knows its stuff. Polluck is a whitefish, with a potent flavor. The kind of potent flavor required to make a decent fish chowder, particularly in lieu of the fact I won’t use unclean animals to flavor enhance; such as clams for clam juice or shrimp for shrimp paste.

So for today, my culinary adventure is fish chowder. A fine, warming, flavorful dish to bring in the new year. Perfect meal for a winter ice storm and the coming single-digit temperatures.

One thing I was surprised by in the preparation of this soup. I kept seeing recipes calling for Old Bay, of which I had none. Upon further digging, it appears Old Bay is approximated by some bay leaves, a mix of what is effectively a curry, plus a small amount of some other random spices; thus the inclusion of nutmeg and cinnamon. Interesting!

In having prepared so many soups and curries of late I am learning that they all pretty much the same pattern of ingredients. Across the oceans, they may have a few regional variations, but the spice profile in the end is often quite similar; even if the end result isn’t at all the same. So in a way, I now consider chowder as a type of American curry!

The preparation of this dish is pretty straightforward. The first step is to soften up our vegetables in the pan. I did this in three stages - first the leek; then the onion, shallot, garlic, and ginger; and lastly the celery and carrots; finished by deglazing the pan with water.

The second step is to bring the contents of the pot to pressure. 20 minutes on pressure-cook, then 20 simmering before venting was enough to get the potatoes nicely cooked.

The third step is to vent and add the fish. The lid is returned and allowed to simmer for 20 minutes.

Upon completion of the fish simmering, the cream and parsley are added. I let this simmer for about 10 minutes so the flavors can infuse into the cream before serving. You may just be able to add the fish and cream at the same time. I don’t suspect it will make much of a difference as long as the fish is allowed to fully cook.

Serve with a nice freshly sliced loaf of a heavier bread or baguette for dipping. When soaked into the slice of bread, the pairing of flavors is quite a delectable match.

Is it a curry or not? Either way this soup had a very pleasant level of heat, was very popular and received many compliments. A very affordable dish, hearty, flavorful, it is definitely staying on the menu.

Next time I will try making a bigger pot. There was certainly enough room in the pot for more.