Whenever I went to Cape Cod or down to Florida I ordered clam chowder or oyster soup with almost every meal. With each of these soups I always enjoyed the local homemade crackers. There was one restaurant overlooking a boat marina in Sarasota that had great clam chowder, and the crackers they served with it were about as round as a half-dollar but almost a half-inch thick. I could have made a meal of this soup and crackers and been a happy traveler.

I’ve tried to find a supplier of such crackers over the years but haven’t had any luck. Then, while looking through an old cookbook I bought at an auction, I found a recipe that looks good to me.

I admit I haven’t made these yet but they sound like my kind of cracker. The cookbook is Anne Lanigan’s Cookie and Cracker Cookbook, published in 1980.

Thick Homemade Crackers

1 large onion

4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs, beat them well

1/2 cup water

2-1/2 teaspoons poppy seeds

1/4 cup all purpose flour

Chop the onion into small pieces.

Stir or sift together the 4 cups flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Stir the oil into the flour. Beat the eggs and stir in the water. Add and stir in to the flour mixture. Stir in the onion pieces and the poppy seeds. Use some of the 1/4 cup of flour to spread on to your working area.

Place the dough on this flour and knead it to get it smooth.

If it’s too sticky, knead in the rest of the flour. If you need more flour that’s all right, as you want nice, workable dough.

Divide the dough into thirds and roll out each third between two sheets of waxed paper. To make the thick crackers, roll this dough to 1/2-inch thickness. Use a juice glass, of which you have dipped the edge into flour, to cut the cracker rounds.

Punch some holes into each cracker using a fork or shish kabob spear. Grease baking sheets with butter and place the cracker rounds on the baking sheets.

If you have enough oven racks and baking pans, you can bake all three sheets of crackers at once. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. When the crackers are a nice golden color, place them on racks to cool.

These are good with any soup and, of course, are quite good with butter and jelly. You might even enjoy them with peanut butter or apple butter, as well.

Readers with questions or comments for Dave Kessler may write to him in care of this publication.