Name: San Francisco Crab "Meatball" Chowder
Yield: Makes about 12 cups; serves 6 to 8 as a main course
Ingredients: 1 pound crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage; 2 large eggs, lightly beaten; 1/4 cup milk; 1 heaping teaspoon Coleman’s dry English mustard; 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 4 ounces oyster crackers, Pilot crackers, or other similar crackers, finely ground (about 1 cup); Kosher or sea salt; Tabasco or other hot sauce; About 1 cup vegetable oil, for cooking the meatballs; 2 medium blue or rock crabs (12 ounces each) or 1 Dungeness crab (1 1/2 to 2 pounds); 4 ounces slab (unsliced) bacon, rind removed and cut into 1/3-inch dice; 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped (1 tablespoon); 2 tablespoons unsalted butter; 1 medium onion (8 ounces), cut into 3/4-inch dice; 1 medium green bell pepper (4 to 6 ounces), cut into 1/2-inch dice; 2 dried bay leaves; 1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning; 1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold, Maine, PEI, or other all-purpose potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch dice; 4 cups Crab Stock ,Traditional Fish Stock , or Chicken Stock; 1 can (28 ounces) peeled whole tomatoes in juice, cut into 1/2-inch dice; Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh Italian parsley

If you are looking for a chowder that is deeply flavored and hearty but not overly rich, this is it. It's perfect for a casual occasion, but the "meatballs" deliver an element of surprise, along the lines of an optical illusion, and make it really quite special.

The idea for this chowder came from an old San Francisco recipe for "Force Meatballs" in a cookbook called Joe Tilden's Recipes for Epicures (1907), reprinted in Richard Hooker's Book of Chowders. The "meatballs" were actually made from crabmeat, a fun idea that I knew had great potential. Tilden, a renowned Bay Area amateur cook, left only these instructions for his meatballs: "Serve in any fish chowder or soup." So I paired my version of his meatballs with a chowder that had flavors similar to cioppino, the famous San Francisco seafood stew flavored with garlic, onions, bell peppers, and tomatoes. I served it to my wife and kids, telling them only that it was "meatball chowder." The well-browned meatballs look like the real thing, so they were all a bit dumbfounded when they tasted them. My son, J.P., said "Wow, they taste like crab cakes!" Everybody loved the chowder!

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Recipe notes

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