St. Charles Man Wins Soup Cookoff, Shares Seafood Chowder Recipe

ST. CHARLES, IL — Stephan Tanda, of St. Charles, recently won a Norwegian soup cook-off with his delicious seafood chowder.

Sons of Norway Polar Star Lodge 5-472 held its fourth annual Souper Bowl Sonday cookoff at St. Olaf Lutheran Church in Montgomery on Sunday. The occasion was the February membership meeting of Polar Star, which is part of an international nonprofit that promotes and preserves the heritage and culture of Norway, according to a news release.

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Ken Johnson of Yorkville, president of the Polar Star, awarded Tanda a soup ladle, cookbook and a traveling trophy, which is a gold-colored soup pot.

Tanda's chowder beat out five competitors for the top prize. Guests were invited to sample entries and voted for their favorites by raising hands. The cookoff returned this year after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID epidemic. Contestants’ recipes will be published in a cookbook to be published by the Norsk Museum in Norway, Illinois, according to a news release.

Following the cookoff, an annual Penny Social fundraiser featuring members’ garage-sale treasures was held.

Polar Star Lodge meets monthly at St. Olaf Lutheran Church, 1233 Douglas Ave. in Montgomery. The lodge is part of Sons of Norway, an international nonprofit that promotes and preserves heritage and culture of Norway, celebrates relationships with other Nordic countries and provides insurance and financial products to members.

Stephan Tanda Shares Seafood Chowder Recipe

For local residents who would like to try out Tanda's award-winning seafood chowder, he has been kind enough to share the recipe below:

Seafood Chowder

Ingredients

• 2 cups chopped onions
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 5 cloves garlic minced
• 2 28 oz cans diced tomatoes (undrained)
• 1 8oz. bottle clam juice
• 1 6oz. can tomato paste
• 1/2 cup dry white wine or water
• 1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 21/2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 lb. firm white fish cut into 1"pieces
• 3/4 lb. shelled uncooked shrimp medium size, tails removed
• 1 6oz. can crabmeat (drained)
• 1 61/2 oz can chopped clams (undrained)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Instructions: In a 5 to 6 quart slow cooker combine: onions, celery, garlic, tomatoes, claim juice, tomato paste, wine vinegar, Italian seasoning, sugar, red pepper flakes and the bay leaf. Mix well and cover and cook on high for four hours. Next add fish, shrimp, clams with juice and crab meat. Reduce heat to low and cover and cook for 30 to 45 minutes or until fish flakes break easily with a fork. Before serving, discard bay leaf and stir in parsley.