Fish Chowder is Bermuda's national dish and one that I had to make. This involved getting a hold of some Outerbridge's Sherry Pepper sauce, the "secret" ingredient in the fish chowder. Sherry Pepper sauce is not difficult to find in the internet, but at $6 for a small bottle plus at least $5 for shipping, it helps makes this an expensive dish.

Unfortunately, the general consensus was that it was good, though not great. There are many recipes for Bermuda fish chowder, the most traditional ones call for making your own fish stock. That's a little too much work for me, though it probably made all the difference. I used a recipe I found at epicurious.com which had great ratings, alas, many of those who had made it seemed to have used homemade stock. I used the seafood stock from Trader Joe's instead.

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Bermuda Fish Chowder

Ingredients

3 tbsp. unsalted butter

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 leek, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 celery rib, chopped

1 tomato, peeled, seeded, and chopped

2 large garlic cloves, minced

3 cups fish stock

5 cups water

2 1/4 lb mixed white fish fillets

1/4 cup tomato paste

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. whole allspice, tied in a cheesecloth bag

1/2 tsp dried thyme, crumbled

1 tsp. Tabasco sauce

salt and pepper to taste.

3 tbsp. cornstarch

3 tbsp. water

12 small hard-shell clams, scrubbed

1 lb medium shrimp, shelled and deveined

3 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup dark rum

2 tbsp. Sherry pepper sauce

Instructions

In a large pot, melt butter over meidum heat. Add chopped onion, bell pepper, leak, carrots, celery, tomato and garlic and stir fry until the vegetables become soft. Add the stock and water, stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.

Add the fish, the tomato paste, bay leaf, alsspice, thyme, Tabasco and salt and pepper to taste. Stir and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.

Mix the cornstarch with 3 tbsp. water. Stir this mixture into the chowder. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened.

Add clams, shrimp, Worcestershire sauce, and rum. Sir and simmer for 30 minutes.

Remove from heat, cover the pot, and let stand for 1 hour. Return to the heat and bring back to a simmer. Stir Sherry pepper sauce and serve.

Adapted from a recipe at Epicurious.com