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4 small carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise, then each half cut into ¼-inch slices

3 medium red-skin potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice (about 1¼ pounds)

Reserved clam liquid plus enough bottled clam juice (about 2½ cups) to total 3 cups

2 cups water

2 large whole bay leaves, preferably fresh

¾ teaspoon salt, or to taste

½ teaspoon black pepper, or to taste

¼ teaspoon hot red pepper sauce, or to taste

1. Pick over the clams, discarding any bits of shell. Coarsely chop the clams and reserve.

2. Brown the salt pork lightly in a large, deep, heavy saucepan over moderate heat for 12 to 15 minutes or until most of the fat renders out and only crisp brown bits remain. Scoop the browned bits to paper toweling and reserve.

3. Add the onion, celery, and carrots to the drippings and sauté, stirring often, over moderate heat for 5 to 8 minutes or until limp and golden.

4. Add the potatoes, clam liquid, water, bay leaves, salt, pepper, and hot red pepper sauce. Bring to a boil, then adjust the heat so the mixture barely bubbles and cook uncovered for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

5. Add the reserved salt pork, the clams and any accumulated juices, and simmer uncovered for about 5 minutes or just until the clams are done; do not boil or you will toughen them. Taste the chowder for salt, pepper, and hot pepper sauce and adjust as needed. Also remove and discard the bay leaves.

6. Ladle the chowder into heated soup bowls and serve with crackers or Hush Puppies.

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TIME LINE: the people and events that shaped Southern Cuisine

1752

George Washington inherits Mount Vernon and sets about improving the farm.

1753

Because many Louisianans can’t afford French brandy, the regimental adjutant allows the sale of tafia, a cheap faux brandy made from sugarcane.

The Moravians, Protestant missionaries (German-speaking but originally from the Czech province of Moravia), travel south from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and begin settling in the North Carolina Piedmont. They call their community Bethabara (“house of passage”) because they intend it to be merely a way station. Much of it still stands near Winston-Salem. Their contributions to local cooking can be tasted today.

1755

The British begin a ten-year deportation of the French-speaking Acadians from Nova Scotia, shipping them to the American colonies. Denied entry, hundreds are returned to France or sent to England.

1756

Baltimore establishes trade with the British West Indies that will last 100 years. Chief exports: barrel staves, beans, bread, corn, ham, iron, peas, and tobacco. Major imports: rum, slaves, and sugar.

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PINE BARK STEW

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

On a visit to Florence, South Carolina, in 1909, President William Howard Taft was served a bowl of Pine Bark Stew “and pronounced it good.” So says the WPA South Carolina Guide (a Depression project launched to assist down-on-their-luck writers, artists, and photographers). In describing the stew, the Guide points out that it “contains no pine bark, but is a highly seasoned concoction of fish in tomato sauce.” Stories abound as to the origin of this fish muddle, or more specifically, to the origin of its unusual name. I favor the one involving Revolutionary War commander Francis Marion (“the Swamp Fox”), whose troops holed up in the South Carolina Lowcountry and harassed the Redcoats with relentless raids. Marion’s militia is said to have caught the makings of this stew in creeks and inlets, cooked it over campfires, and served it in bowls improvised of pine bark. I’ve seen bark peeled from pine saplings just the way cork is stripped from oaks in Portugal, and it seems entirely plausible that these canoe-shaped slabs could serve as soup bowls. Some food historians say “piffle,” insisting that pine bark was used to fuel the fire over which the stew simmered. Others suggest that the stew’s pine-bark color gave rise to its name. That seems unlikely because this stew is rosy. I like to think that a bit of resinous