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Pickerel Cheek Chowder
Chef Samantha Chevrier's chowder of pickerel cheeks, wild leeks and dandelion greens, built on smoked bacon and finished with cream. From the June 2026 Food and Beverage edition.
This chowder comes from Chef Samantha Chevrier, who cooks at Naagan in Owen Sound and whose work runs on fermentation, preservation, and the wild plants she was taught to look for. It is built the way a chowder should be, on smoked bacon and a slow sweat of vegetables, and then turned by two ingredients most soups never see: wild leeks and dandelion greens, stirred in at the end so they keep their bite.
Pickerel cheeks are the reason to make it. They are small, and there are only two per fish, so they are rarely sold on their own and rarely wasted by anyone who has them. Ask a fishmonger.
Read Chef Samantha Chevrier's story
Pickerel Cheek Chowder
As it ran in the June 2026 Food and Beverage edition.
Ingredients
Thirteen, start to finish- 5 slices double-smoked bacon, thinly sliced
- ½ cup butter
- 3 russet potatoes, finely diced
- 1½ large carrots, finely diced
- 3 stalks celery, finely diced
- 6–7 dandelion leaves, thinly sliced
- 4 wild leeks / ramps, thinly sliced
- 5 tbsp flour
- 3 sprigs thyme, 1 sprig oregano
- 10½ cups fish or chicken stock
- 2 cups pickerel, cut into medium-sized pieces
- 1 cup heavy cream
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Method
- In a hot pan, cook the thinly sliced double-smoked bacon until crispy; set aside. In a medium pot, sweat the vegetables, oregano, and thyme in butter for 7–8 minutes over medium-low heat, seasoning generously. Reserve the sliced dandelion greens and wild leek leaves for later.
- Add the flour, stir, and continue cooking for 3–4 minutes.
- Add the stock slowly while stirring. Simmer on low for 20–25 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
- Add the pickerel cheeks, dandelion, leek leaves, and cream.
- Simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from heat to avoid overcooking.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve in bowls, topped with a choice of herb or fried bannock.
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Chef Samantha Chevrier
From backyard fish fries on Batchewana First Nation to leading the line for 300 guests a night, Chef Samantha Chevrier turns wild ingredients, fermentation, and Indigenous teachings into food that honours the land.
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As featured in The Canada Magazine, June 2026 issue.
See the June issue content
