Instructions: * Note: You can buy chopped fresh clams from a fish market or use 5 quarts of scrubbed hard-shell quahogs and steam them in a small amount of water in a large kettle until they open, 5 to 15 minutes, depending on size. Then scrape out the clam meat and chop or cut it with scissors into cranberry-size pieces. Pour cooking liquid into a glass measuring cup, let any mud settle and pour off clean broth. This is clam liquor.

In a large kettle or soup pot, cook salt pork over medium heat until fat is rendered and pork bits are crispy, about 10 minutes. Remove pork with a slotted spoon to drain on paper towels and reserve, leaving drippings in pot.

Add onion to drippings and cook, stirring frequently, until it begins to soften, about 6 minutes. Sprinkle on flour and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Add milk and clam liquor, whisking until smooth. Add potatoes, bay leaf and dried thyme and cook uncovered until potatoes are almost tender, 10 minutes.

Add clams and fresh thyme (if using) and stir in half-and-half. Continue to simmer until potatoes are tender, about 5 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. (Remove from the heat and let chowder sit, partly covered, at cool room temperature for at least 1 hour, or refrigerate for up to 2 days. Reheat gently, discarding the bay leaf.)

To serve, ladle chowder into soup bowls, add a small square of butter and stir to swirl in. Sprinkle with reserved salt pork cracklings if desired.

This recipe yields 4 servings.

Comments: Here is a chowder in the classic Bostonian style; lightly thickened with flour, enriched with a bit of light cream, chock full of chopped hard-shell clams and cubed potatoes and enhanced with a goodly sprinkling of thyme, the chowder herb. The recipe is adapted from the "Legal Sea Foods Cookbook" and is essentially the chowder that has been introducing legions of visitors to Bostons "specialty of the house" for a couple of decades.

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