Kenji Lopez-Alt From SeriousEats.com In his weekly Food Lab column on the blogsite Serious Eats, MIT grad J. Kenji Lopez-Alt obsessively deconstructs recipes for the home cook. He gives new meaning to the term “food geek”–but really, who wouldn’t want this guy for your lab partner? If you’ve spent any amount of time in coastal New England, you’ve probably noticed how generously awards are bestowed upon clam chowders. Now I’ve never met the folks who run these award factories, but I take issue with any organization that passes out praise like flyers. Having spent my entire life traveling through New England, I’ve grown accustomed to the fact that nine out of ten “award-winning!” or “#1 voted!” clam chowders are going to arrive at the table either thick as paste, bereft of clams, or packed with clams so rubbery they make your jaws bounce, and unfortunately, most home recipes don’t turn up results that are much better. And if finding great chowder in its birthplace is difficult, you can imagine what it’s like outside of New England.
