Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Rainy Day Woman gets corny

In my column this week, I look to the heavens for a great corn chowder recipe. I also promise my good readers that they will find additional tips and tricks for a great pot of chowder on these pages, so here goes:

Instead of chicken broth, I use my homemade chicken stock, which I make from roasted chicken carcasses and pan drippings. If you don't make your own, use the very best stock you can afford.

I don't like to keep the bacon in the chowder as it cooks. I think the pieces turn soft and yucky. I always used to pick them out as a kid. But I admit that cooking the chowder along with the bacon improves flavor. To go that route, just leave it in instead of taking it out with a slotted spoon as I describe in the recipe. You can always cook extra bacon bits and reserve them for a crispy garnish.

You can add small chunks of cooked ham. Put it in when you put in the cooked potato. I've heard of people adding chicken, but I've never tried it. Smoked chicken chunks might be pretty good.

If you want a thicker chowder, take out a cup or so and puree it, than put it back in. You can also use a potato masher and gently mash the soup--breaking down the potato chunks, which in turn acts as thickener. Just do it gradually. Mash a little, then stir and see if it needs more mashing.

You want to add a can of creamed corn? Add your goddamn can of creamed corn.

If you really are craving corn chowder in the winter, use frozen shoepeg corn instead of fresh.

Instead of whole milk, you can use skim or reduced fat. You can use half and half or heavy cream for a really rich result. I often use evaporated milk. The actual amount of milk depends. Start off with a little and add more if the chowder needs thinning.

Use celery salt instead of regular salt to kick up flavor. I've been known to add a shake of granulated chicken bouillon. Use a hell of a lot of pepper--but slowly. Keep tasting, tasting, tasting and adding as needed. Remember: you can always add more, but you can't take it out.

Some vegan/vegetarian suggestions (I've never made it this way, so you're in unchartered territory): Omit bacon. Use olive oil instead of butter or bacon fat. Use vegetable broth instead of chicken stock. I don't normally use these, but to kick up flavor for a vegetarian version, you might add chopped raw celery to the chopped raw onion and Sauté them together.

And a couple of links:

My great grandfather was a potato and sweetcorn farmer in Independence, Ohio. You can read about it here.

Or you can watch me eat an ear of sweetcorn.

Good luck with the chowder.

Peace out.

6 comments:

dean said...

You are making me hungry, and it's only 5:30 in the morning.

Elisson said...

You're making me hungry too...and not just for the chowder! Heh. ;-)

Anonymous said...

where's the "eff"s??? its not an erin recipe without some crudeness! :-D

Anonymous said...

I noticed the lack of "eff's" too. But maybe that's because chowder is a calming and soothing comfort food, and this was a calming and soothing recipe. You don't want to *eff* up your chowder. Maybe? Or maybe it's just too hot out to eff. At least it is here...90 degrees in the shade!

~DogsDontPurr

Norm said...

*effin' drooling*

Anonymous said...

For the best ears of fresh corn, wait until the hair at the top of the ear starts to turn brown, this is normally considered the sign of ripeness but it's really on one of several indicators, squeeze the very tip of the leaves just below where the hair emerges.

An inch or so below, the shuck should swell just a bit. This indicates that the protective leaves have kept a tight seal around the corn and the ear is unlikely to have rotted, dried or been eaten by beasties.

Presuming that you're picking through recently harvested corn and that the farmer was attentive in keeping pests at bay, you should get this result in a third to a half of the ears you examine.

Best of luck with the soup.