A few weeks ago, I made my usual trip to Costco and purchased two ginormous cans of clams. I had no idea what I was going to do with them, but I was thinking that I'd like to try making clam chowder, so I did.

Luckily, there was a clam chowder recipe already on the back of the large can, so I didn't have to search too far in order to  find what I was looking for.

Once I had the recipe in front of me, I set the clams aside, and began dicing some rather large russet potatoes into shapes that sort of resembled cubes. I also diced some onions, minced some garlic (without a garlic press I'll have you know), and went to the store to get some half-and-half. (The recipe called for either milk or half-and-half, but I like creamier chowders so opted for the latter.)

I also fried up some hickory-smoked bacon (MMMMMMMMMMMM....can you smell it from here?), somwwhat clumsily reserved the grease,  and chopped the bacon into bits. (SPOILER ALERT: This is where I went wrong in the recipe- I didn't make the bacon crispy enough, so it was a little wilty in the chowder.)

Then, I boiled the diced potatoes and drained the water and added flour and reserved bacon juice. I also added in the onions and garlic which I had secretly sauteed before. I also poured the clams, the clam juice, and everything else that the recipe called for into the 5-gallon pot and put it on low, so I could watch it simmer.

The results, with the exception of the soggy bacon, were stupendous. It was my first time to cook clam chowder, so I was pretty excited. Of course, I had to add the requisite crackers and Tobasco sauce into the clam chowder to enjoy my meal more. (For some reason, I can't seem to eat anything without some kind of hot sauce on it unless it is a really unique and/or subtly-flavored dish.)

And, like chili, one of the best things about cooking clam chowder is that there is usually a lot of left-over chowder that can be eaten for either lunch or dinner.

I do have some questions about how I could have fried the bacon better for the chowder? Also, what do you think is the best method for reserving bacon grease? I tried calling the Bacon Hotline-hello, I'd like to reserve some bacon grease- but they were absolutely no help.