Rest barely compare to barley chowder

From: Oakland Tribune | Date: February 6, 2008| Author: Marie Simmons | Copyright information

I'VE BEEN YEARNING for a bowl of my mother's clam chowder.

My chowder experience is extensive. It seems I've spent the last decades tasting and making dozens of different recipes for clam chowder, but in the end it was Mom's chowder that I liked the best.

The broth -- made with fresh clams -- is bright tasting and briny. Pale red from the addition of her home canned tomatoes, it's chock full of clams and laced with the subtle smokiness of bacon.

Mom's clams of choice we...