The Chef: Colin Wyatt

Illustration: Michael Hoeweler

His Restaurant: Twelve in Portland, Maine

What He’s Known For: Riffing on New England classics with the freshest local ingredients and equal parts whimsy and luxury.

AS A CHEF in Maine, chef Colin Wyatt has to satisfy certain expectations. “Clam chowder is one of those things people always want when they visit,” he said. Naturally, he takes the region’s best-known soup seriously.

“This is where I’ve ended up,” he said of his final Slow Food Fast recipe. “For me, the trick is letting the clams shine. You need to show off their brininess. Since cream adds a bit of unctuousness, you really don’t need butter or flour.” He rounds out the pot with hunks of potato, salty bits of bacon, sautéed leeks—“more delicate than onions,” in Mr. Wyatt’s estimation—cubes of celery root and parsley, plus a bracing dollop of crème fraîche, stirred in at the very end.

Mr. Wyatt considers winter prime chowder season, when the water is cold and clams are at their peak. “I steam them in a single layer, and I take each one out as it opens,” he said. That way, he slightly undercooks them initially so that once the soup’s base is ready to receive them, the clams finish cooking just to the point of sublime.

—Kitty Greenwald is a chef, food writer and the co-author of ‘Slow Fires’ (Clarkson Potter)

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