I just got back from Cape Anne on the Massachusetts coast, and it was filled with fried clams, lobster rolls, mussels, Boston Baked beans, and of course, clam chowder. While I only ate it once, I’ve had it probably 100 times in my life up there on the eastern seaboard. Each year when we vacationed there as kids, my younger sister and I would rate the local restaurants’ clam chowders on a scale of 1-10, meaning we ate the equivalent of two gallons of chowder in a one-week span. I never got sick of it.

Can the same thing be said of beef chowder?

Chef Norman Sisisky

Democratic Representative from Virginia
Favorite Food or Homespun Recipe: Homespun Recipe

Notable:

being a millionaire beverage distribution company owner; nicknamed “The Peanut King”

Quotable:

“I don’t apologize for having money. Everybody says it’s bad to have money. I don’t think it’s bad.”

As always, I followed the recipe word for word directly from the congressman who, like so many others after him unless term limits are introduced, died in office, no alterations:

INGREDIENTS

1.75 cups hot water

1 pkg. (5.5oz) hash brown potatoes w/ onions

2 tbsp chopped onions

1/4 cup butter

1 tbsp flour

4 cups milk

1 20oz can whole corn

1 pkg. (3.5oz) dried beef

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp lemon pepper

1/4 tsp celery salt

INSTRUCTIONS

1) Pour water on potatoes and let stand 10 minutes.

I’m wondering if hash browns 30 years ago were pre-browned, as these were…white. And since they won’t be cooked, just thawed, they will stay hash whites. It was hard enough finding frozen hash browns with onions.

2) Cook and stir onions in butter in 3-quart saucepan over medium heat until light brown. Stir in flour and cook 1 minute.

A pleasant smell coming from the kitchen is rare when making a Cookin’ with Congress; butter and onions will never disappoint.

3) Stir in milk gradually.

4) Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling.

Yes, we’re really not browning those hash whites it seems.

5) Reduce heat, simmer uncovered for 2 minutes.

This does not seem long enough, but apparently it is.

Voila! If you want to actually watch me attempt to eat it, go to the Cookin’ with Congress Instagram or TikTok. The long beef flaps aren’t exactly appealing, but it’s not the worst-smelling, nor is it the ugliest soup. JFK and Reagan both had much less attractive soups. I’ll say, it has absolutely nothing in common with clam chowder in the aromatic sense. Not. A. Thing.

Verdict:

Those hash whites aren’t doing this chowder any favors, and it’s certainly not going to take the world by storm like clam chowder. The beef was flaccid, the potatoes were flavorless and yet, with a few dashes of a garlic-heavy hot sauce (peri-peri?), it’d be palatable and no worse than a canned cream of beef soup, if that exists.