Fresh Corn and Bacon Chowder

Fresh Corn and Bacon Chowder

Mary Mac’s Tea Room Cookbook

We are in the height of the Florida sweet corn season and I couldn’t resist using some of that delicious sweet corn for this recipe. The results were outstanding. I seriously recommend this recipe. Seriously.

8 ears fresh corn, kernels cut and milk scraped

4 slices bacon, diced

1/2 cup finely chopped sweet onion

1/2 cup thinly sliced celery

1 cup water

2 cups whole milk

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons cornstarch

In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, render the fat from the diced bacon. Remove the bacon after it gets crisp and set aside. Reserve 2 tablespoons bacon drippings. Add onion and celery to bacon drippings and cook on medium high heat until tender, stirring frequently, about 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the corn, corn milk and water. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in 1 1/2 cups of the milk, the sugar, thyme, salt and pepper and cook over low heat. Combine the cornstarch with the remaining 1/2 cup milk. Stir until cornstarch is dissolved and add to corn mixture, stirring often until the mixture is thick and bubbly. Garnish with reserved bacon pieces.

Start with good fresh sweet corn. Discard the husks and silks. The finished product will only be good if the corn is good. I used Florida Supersweet Corn

Remove the husks and silks. Clean the corn.

Cut the kernels and scrap the milk.

This is the kernels and milk from 8 ears of corn. I got to use the corn thingy I love so much!

Render fat from bacon. Set aside when brown and crispy. Reserve 2 tbsp. of bacon drippings.

Cook onions and celery until tender.

Add corn, corn milk and water. Cover and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes.

Add 1/2 cups milk and spices and seasonings. I omitted the sugar because the corn was very sweet. Allso, I reduced the thyme to 1/2 tsp. A whole tsp of thyme seemed like a lot to me.

Serve in cups. Garnis with bacon.