Instant Pot Fish Chowder

I've been the satisfied owner of an Instant Pot electric pressure cooker for a couple of years, and it's one of the best kitchen gadgets that I've ever used! I inherited it from my wife, who received it as a gift, but after using it a couple times, gifted it to me. I'm truly the benefactor!!

Photo: I'm a happy guy, as I've removed the pot of fish chowder from the Instant Pot, and getting ready to enjoy a delicious bowl of this hearty soup. It's New England style fish chowder all the way! Such a great dinner for Friday, February 07, 2025...

Photo: "Fish Chowder," inside the stainless steel 4-quart pot, which fits inside the Instant Pot. It's the perfect size for the average family and for one person, you'll enjoy many leftovers.

I used wild-caught "Pink Salmon," gifted to me from a friend, who enjoyed a fishing trip last year in the Gulf of Alaska. Yes, I know all the so-called "rules" don't recommend salmon for chowder, but I never learned how to follow rules, and this chowder was simply delicious!

I based my recipe on the recipe for "New England Clam Chowder" from "The Step-by-Step Instant Pot Cookbook," by Jeffery Eisner. If you own an Instant Pot, do yourself a favor and purchase a copy of this book! It's the "Bible" for Instant Pot cooking!

I made a few changes from the recipe, to accommodate the salmon, and simply because I had the ingredients on hand. Here are the major changes I made:

* Homemade fish stock, made from fish heads, purchased at my local supermarket
* 16-oz of pink salmon, chopped into small to medium size chunks
* 2 Tablespoons of dry sherry wine
* 2 Teaspoons of Old Bay seasoning
* 1 cup of frozen yellow corn

I omitted the chopped clams and the clam juice the recipe called for.

It's kind of funny, as my wife didn't like the Instant Pot and it was gifted to me. A few months prior, I'd purchased an Instant Vortex Plus air fryer, and I didn't like it, so it ended up on the kitchen counter top, used by everyone in the household. I'd say that was an even swap!

Photo: Tonight's bowl of "Alaskan Fish Chowder" showing the large chunks of salmon and potato. The coarse pepper is ground from pepper grinder using peppercorns, as the flavor is world's above the ground pepper you find in your local supermarket. I enjoyed a leftover bread stick or two to enhance the bowl of chowder.

Photo: Back on Wednesday, July 24, 2024, I made a batch of fish chowder using a vastly different recipe. A couple things that didn't change were the wild Alaskan salmon and the homemade fish broth.

Photo: I lift the lid on the cast iron pot of fish chowder that I'm cooking. Today wasn't my first attempt at fish chowder, with a Mexican twist... it was simply the first time I bothered to take photos.

Photo: Fish chowder, Mexican style, which is vastly different from your New England clam chowder. I left out the cream and used Valentina Mexican Hot Sauce for flavor, and I added squash and carrot to the chowder. San Felipe meets Boston in this hybred soup... but it was great!

Maybe I shouldn't have even included this with "Fish Chowder?" I don't know...