Corn Chowder

Eleisha is really a good cook. She follows the recipe much more than I do. I'll add some (a lot) of garlic and parsley to pretty much anything, change the ratios of liquid and dry ingredients, or add ingredients to a basic recipe to make it completely different.

This corn chowder recipe is one time she varied the original a little and made it even better than it was. The change wasn't a big one, but it was definitely big enough to make a difference in the taste of the chowder.

Her Grandpa once gave her a couple of recipe books in the late 1990's and when she looked through them this recipe really stood out to her. I think it was the bacon. Everything tastes better with bacon, right? Well, in this chowder, it isn't the star, (the corn really is,) but the bacon adds just enough bacony goodness and smoky flavor to really make it a treat. I wouldn't call this health food, bit the only fat comes from a little bacon fat and the milk. I use 1% milk, so it doesn't add much fat, but it still tastes creamy and good.

That all said, this is really Eleisha's recipe that I also know how to make. I don't do anything to it other than what she has already changed, mainly because I can't think of how I could make it taste any better but also because it is her recipe. Here it is:

Corn Chowder

(We usually double this, but this makes about 9-10 cups as it is.)
1/2 lb bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
2 Tbsp flour
4 Cups milk
2 pinches of pepper (This is one thing you can add a little bit more of to give it a little kick)
1 can (17 oz) cream style corn
1 can (17 oz) sweet corn (we've used frozen corn for this too)
1 cup red potato, diced
1 cup russet potato, diced

1. Cook bacon in saucepan until crispy. Reserve 3 Tbsp of the fat in the pan. Remove bacon and set it aside.
2. Saute onion and celery in bacon fat about 2-4 minutes, until they start to go translucent, then add the flour and cook until it starts to brown into a roux and starts to bubble.
3. Stir in milk and heat until boiling, stirring constantly. Add the potatoes and pepper. Cook for 13-14 minutes or until the potatoes are just about tender. (You can use canned potatoes if you want and that way you don't have to cook it for the 13-14 minutes.) Stir in the corn and heat it until it's hot. It usually is hot enough right away, unless you used canned potatoes. You should heat it until it until it thickens up though. Stir in 1/2 of the bacon now and use the other 1/2 as a topping when you serve it.