Corn Chowder

I took the notes on the soup chapter Friday, so this week is soup week. Corn is at the height of season right now, and a chowder in the summer is a challenge. Corn is a popular flavor base for chowder and as corn provides its own milk and the boiled cobs make a corny stock for a base. Chowders generally are based on seafood, thickened with cream and potatoes, and contain a salted pork product. To keep the soup light, I started with the corn stock, and eschewed the cream in favor of mexican homily for another corn flavor. I suspect that grits, polenta or cornmeal could have been used, but the texture would have been more rustic and less creamy. I used country ham pieces. I intended to go with bacon, but grabbed the wrong package at the market. It ended up working better when I diced bothe the fat and the lean separately. I left the lean raw and fried the fat cubes in a very hot pan, and garnished with both. Here's the method:

Take the kernels off the cob, and roast with butter and salt. Milk the cobs with the back of a knife into a stockpot. Put the cobs in the stockpot with carrot and celery, cover with cold water and bring to a simmer for 30 minutes. Reduce if necessary.

Chop country ham scraps and render. Sweat onion in the fat. Pour the corn stock over, add half the roasted corn and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the ham scraps and puree. Add the rest of the corn and bring to a simmer.
Taste and season.

Cut country ham fat and lean separately into a small dice. Heat a pan with a littlle olive oil till the oils just starts to smoke and fry the fat until brown and crispy. Use equal amounts fat and lean to garnish.

The chowder had a strong corn flavor with porky, salty undertones from the ham fat. I like my corn chowder a little sweeter, so I added some reduced cream I'd been simmering just in case. I'll see how it is tomorrow.