Chowder

[chou-der] /ˈtʃaʊ dər/

noun
1.
a thick soup or stew made of clams, fish, or vegetables, with potatoes, onions, and other ingredients and seasonings.
/ˈtʃaʊdə/
noun
1.
a thick soup or stew containing clams or fish
n.

1751, American English, apparently named for the pot it was cooked in: French chaudière “a pot” (12c.), from Late Latin caldaria (see caldron). The word and the practice introduced in Newfoundland by Breton fishermen, and spreading thence to New England.

CHOWDER. A favorite dish in New England, made of fish, pork, onions, and biscuit stewed together. Cider and champagne are sometimes added. Pic-nic parties to the sea-shore generally have a dish of chowder, prepared by themselves in some grove near the beach, from fish caught at the same time. [John Russell Bartlett, “Dictionary of Americanisms,” 1859]

The derogatory chowderhead (1819) is a corruption of cholter-head (16c.), from jolthead, of unknown origin.