Fresh Corn Chowder

January 2025

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated All Time Best Soups, America's Test Kitchen, 2016, p. 83

In the cooler months we like homemade soup for dinner. I have made corn chowder before using a family recipe but this time I decided to try an ATK recipe. Among other things it uses fresh corn, which is not easy to come by in the winter. But the supermarket had some packages of ears of corn that I could use. While they are probably not very fresh their availability made this dish possible.

The recipe specifies 10 ears of corn. The packages I bought had 4 smallish ears of corn each and I bought 2. The kernels were cut off 3 of these and the remainder were grated on the large holes of a box grater. Finely chopped bacon was cooked in a Dutch oven until crisp. One finely chopped onion was added and cooked until softened then 2 cloves of minced garlic were added and cooked until fragrant. Flour was sprinkled over the mixture and cooked for a few minutes. Chicken broth and whole milk were stirred in slowly. Cubes of red potato, bay leaves, thyme, and the grated corn were added and the chowder brought to a simmer. When the potatoes were almost tender the corn kernels and cream were added and cooked until the corn kernels were tender. Finally, minced parsley was added along with salt and pepper to taste.  Total time was around 100 minutes.

The chowder is good. I can't compare it with the family recipe chowder as it has been a while since I've had the latter. The kernels of corn provide sweet, slightly crunchy bits that are enjoyable to eat. Overall, though, the chowder could have had more corn flavor, probably a combination of not enough corn plus lack of freshness. Making this chowder in the summer with fresh corn should improve it. While we don't usually have soup in the summer this recipe might provide some inspiration to change that pattern.