Chowder Competitors Stand By Winning White Recipes
OGs: Mud City’s first year competing in the cook-off was 1998, before it was even officially a restaurant. The ‘hearty, creamy, perfect’ recipe hasn’t changed in 25 years. The author of the original recipe is Eric Magaziner. (Supplied Photo)
With the 2024 Beach Haven Chowder Cook-Off creeping ever closer (Sunday, Oct. 6, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.), four of the restaurants competing in the white New England category, out of 10 total – five white, five red – provided insight into what makes their recipes so special.
Delaware Avenue Oyster House owner Toby Sweeney described the restaurant’s entry as “a perfect mix of both (white and red)! And that’s because we couldn’t decide.” The recipe is “very non-traditional,” she said, given the addition of savory pork roll.
This year is the Beach Haven Terrace restaurant’s fifth time participating. Its awards so far have included Grand Champion, Best Booth and Rookie of the Year.
The quantity of soup to be made for the cook-off is 180 gallons. As for pounds of seafood, gallons of heavy cream and number of kitchen helpers, Sweeney said, “billions.”
In her opinion, the hybrid chowder’s flavor “is rich and has a kick but doesn’t overwhelm the clammy goodness.”
At The Chicken or the Egg in Beach Haven, General Manager David Mount said it will take 100 cans of clams and 450 slices of bacon to pull off the estimated 180 gallons needed for the competition.
According to Mount, the Chegg’s “Weapon X” is Heladio Martinez, head prep chef and arguably hardest worker in the land. According to Mount, Martinez has missed only one day of work in 18 years. While other restaurants use many helpers, “Martinez is many in one.”
Having learned the original 1991 recipe from the original owners, Mount said, “(Martinez) is the only person allowed to make the soup.” In the decades since, only a few modifications have been made to perfect the flavor, according to Tracy Kneble of LaScala Restaurant Group.
Kneble said white is the right choice for the Chegg because it’s an original recipe and a customer favorite – “the most heavily requested and ordered.”
The Chegg’s past wins include Grand Champ in 2019 and ’21, Best Booth in 2004 and 2016, plus three second-place and one third-place awards between 2013 and 2018.
Kneble attributed the white chowder’s superiority to its consistency.
(Photo by LJ Hepp)
Mud City Crab House in Manahawkin first entered Chowderfest in 1998 as marketing for then then-brand-new restaurant, which would open in the summer of 1999, according to spokesman Jon Coen.
“The man behind the soup these days is Fabio Hernandez, who works all week prior to Chowderfest” to prepare 180 gallons, Coen said.
The recipe for Mud City’s “hearty, creamy, perfect” New England chowder “is the same recipe we have used since the Magaziners and Nugents opened the door of Mud City Crab House 25 years ago,” he continued. The author of the original recipe is Eric Magaziner, who, along with Bob Nugent, is a former Chowderfest Clam Shucking champ.
“Mud City Crab House was really the start of the Tide Table Group as it exists today,” Coen explained. “The first restaurant was Ship Bottom Shellfish, opened in 1983. Mud City was when it became a group (which today includes Black Whale, Old Causeway Steak and Oyster House, Parker’s Garage and Bird & Betty’s.)
(Supplied photo)
Mud City’s chowder isn’t just any soup, Coen explained. “It’s made with love and tradition. Mud City celebrates the culture of Southern Ocean County. Our dishes reflect the fresh seafood and history that people always come back for.”
CHAMP STAMP: The Country Kettle crew is no stranger to victory. The Maschal family prepares to enter again with their award-winning New England chowder recipe, which calls for shucking 2,000 fresh local clams. (Supplied Photo)
Country Kettle Chowda’s New England chowder is a traditional soup with salt pork, according to owner JB Maschal, and the recipe has served the shop well historically.
Country Kettle has entered the cook-off a whopping 34 years and racked up a total of 14 wins: one for its red, two for “lobsta,” and 11 for New England.
“We make 200 gallons, which requires eight staff prepping for two weeks,” Maschal said. The feat involves shucking over 2,000 fresh local clams, using 50 gallons of heavy cream and chopping all fresh vegetables, plus “a lot of love in the recipe,” he added. —V.F.
