Fall Harvest Corn Chowder

I've heard that there are some people who surf the web to watch porn.  You know; stuff like sex videos.  And because my appetite leans towards food and less to carnal temptations I surf the web to watch food videos.  

Recently, I watched a Jacques Pépin tutorial on preparing a corn chowder.  I was intrigued by the ease he denuded a cob of it's kernels without sending them flying all over the kitchen for the dog to chase.  It's all about keeping your knife on both a horizontal level while at the same time a horizontal angle.  Who knew?  In any event, I found a New York Times recipe in my digital cooking index and short of sourcing some fresh sweet corn I had everything else on hand including some extras.  Sunday morning I fetched a half-dozen beautiful ears of sweet corn from Wienke's Market over on County S.  Besides, Packer Football is always better at halftime over a bowl of soup; notwithstanding a loss to the Vikings.

Individualizing a chowder or soup is a simple matter; consequently I incorporated chopped celery (including the tops) in lieu of parsley along with a cup of locally-sourced chopped oyster mushrooms I had on hand.  And smoked bacon.  Why, you ask?  Because I always have Marchant's bacon in the freezer in the event of an emergency.  Make it your own!________________________________________________________________________  

Basic Corn Chowder

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Mark Bittman  Updated July 2, 2024

Total Time 30 minutes    Yield  4 servings

This is chowder at its simplest: corn, onion, potatoes and milk, with a couple of chopped
tomatoes and a handful of parsley to add flavor and color. Starting with bacon and finishing with cream makes a richer version of the dish. But you could easily expand its borders by adding curry powder and ginger, sour cream and cilantro. Or when the potato is replaced by rice and the cream with coconut milk, Southeast Asian seasonings can be added to make a chowder that has little in common with the original, save for its intense corn flavor.

Ingredients

● 4 to 6 ears of corn
● 1 tablespoon butter or neutral oil, like canola or grapeseed
● 1 medium onion, chopped
● 2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
● Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
● 2 tomatoes, cored, seeded and chopped (optional)
● 1 cup whole or low-fat milk
● ½ cup chopped parsley (optional)

Preparation

1. Shuck corn, and use a paring knife to strip kernels into a bowl. Put cobs in a pot with 4
cups water; bring to a boil, cover and simmer while you continue.  The corn water constitutes your stock.

2. Put butter or oil, I had residual bacon drippings (hubba hubba) in a saucepan, and turn heat to medium-high. When butter melts or oil is hot, add onion and potatoes, along with a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion softens, about 5 minutes; add tomatoes and cook, stirring, for another minute or two.

3. After corncobs have cooked at least 45 minutes, strain liquid into onion-potato mixture;
bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer. When potatoes are tender, add corn kernels
and milk, and heat through. Taste, and adjust seasonings. Garnish with the parsley, and
serve.

Pro Tip

I added the oyster mushrooms along with some flour to make a roux at Step 1, the celery at Step 3 along with crispy chopped bacon bits as a garnish before serving.  

For a South Asian flair try curried corn chowder:  In Step 2, use oil, and add 1 tablespoon each curry powder and peeled and minced ginger to the onions. In Step 3, use sour cream in place of milk; garnish with cilantro in place of parsley.  Make it your own!