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Chilliwack Corn Chowder


It's the height of Corn season here in Chilliwack where we are famous for our corn.
'Super Sweet', 'Tuxedo', 'Peaches and Cream' or the old faithful 'Jubilee',
it's all sweet and delicious.
I've made this corn chowder for years and years and it's always a hit.
During corn season when we eat it fresh from the cob, I always cook a few more cobs than needed. I cut the kernels off the extra cobs, scrape the cobs with my big knife and put all that goodness into freezer bags for corn chowder later. Scraping the cobs gives you the extra starch that will add flavour and help to thicken the chowder.
  • 2 good sized potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 2 large carrots, peeled and cubed
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 stalk celery, chopped
  • 5 cups water
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 lb. bacon, cut into 1/4 inch pieces or farmer sausage, crumbled
  • 1 bay leaf
  • handful of fresh parsley or 1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
  • seasoned pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
  • few drops Tabasco Sauce
  • 3 cups corn kernels
  • 1 small can creamed corn
  • 2 cups milk or light cream or use half cream and half milk
  • flour and more milk to thicken if desired.
  • chopped fresh parsley
  • cheddar cheese (to sprinkle as a garnish)

  1. Place potatoes, carrots, onion, celery, bay leaf, parsley and salt in large pot or small dutch oven.
  2. Add 5 cups water and bring to a boil. If using farmer sausage, chop or crumble the sausage into the water and vegetables.
  3. Turn to simmer and let cook until potatoes and carrots are tender.
  4. While that is cooking, fry bacon until crisp and drain.
  5. When vegetables are done, add corn, Worcestershire and Tabasco and seasoned pepper.
  6. Taste and add more seasonings if desired. Let cook 10 minutes more.
  7. Add milk or cream and heat, stirring well.
  8. You can thicken the soup at this point if desired. Mix 1 tablespoon flour with 1/2 cup milk and add to soup.
  9. To serve, garnish with shredded Cheddar cheese and snipped parsley

16 comments:

  1. Sounds so yummy. Do you add the fried bacon to the mix or is it for garnish?

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  2. I started to prep mine last night, but I fried sausage and onions first, added the celery and carrots and corn kernels off the cob, and threw it in the fridge. Tomorrow, on the youth retreat, I will add cans of corn, cream corn, water, boullion, milk and flour- does the order matter much? What benefit is it to adding the meat later? (I also forgot potatoes... might boil them up seperately and add them)

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  3. Kind of reminds me just a little of our "chicken corn soup" over in the Lancaster, Pa area just a little. But this one looks to have more spice and more kick to it. Richard

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  4. Sounds very tasty, gonna try this on Monday!

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  5. Sitting at the table watching our men enjoy a hot bowl of corn chowder a cool day in southern Alberta. First harvest meal of the season. I just love your blog and your cookbook. I plan on visiting some of the stores you feature in your blog when we head back to Langley in the fall to visit our daughter at TWU. Not coming from a Mennonite background I am not a very good "ethnic cook". I grew up in southern Ontario with lots of Mennonites but the food did not always reflect the "Russian" Mennonite food. Your cook book is great as it takes the fear out of cooking with a recipe that states that you "add enough flour until soft" or "cook until done". I open your blog daily at work to see what ideas you have for supper. Years ago I taught a variety of cooking class and one was called, "cooking for one or two". With just the two of us it would be great to see
    some recipes like that.

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  6. I made this corn chowder for lunch today. I had nearly everything on hand except the celery and the tabasco. Even had about 4 extra pieces of cooked farmer sausage left over from the other night. I only used 4 cups of water and I shook the milk up with 1/4 cup flour before adding it. I also put about 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese into the soup, just before serving. Thickness was perfect. Curious, what is "seasoned pepper"? I will definately make my corn chowder just like this again. I think the ticket is the fresh corn. Thanks, Bev!

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  7. You can add the Bacon at any time during the cooking. When using sausage I often add it with the potatoes so it adds flavour to the broth. As Chris mentioned, you can add boullion or chicken broth instead of the water but the veggies provide lots of flavour on their own.

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  8. Are you in Chilliwack, B.C., where they filmed Eureka? I love that show, and your blog!

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  9. Are you wonderful ladies from Chilliwack, British Columbia.
    I lived there and I loved it.

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  10. I made a form of this for supper last night and it was yummy.....even though our temperatures reached near 100 degrees! Not exactly soup weather :)

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  11. I made this for lunch today - perfect for using up the leftover corn on the cobs in the fridge. Yummy!

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  12. Made this for dinner last night, after freezing several quarts of corn, it was a huge hit with my whole family! Thank you for the delishious recipe.

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  13. I love corn chowder and recently came across a trick for thickening it that is perfect. Instead of adding flour and milk, toss in a scant handful of Cornmeal close to the end of the cooking time. It will thicken the soup AND add more corn flavour! You can also mix Mesa (corn flour) with a bit of water/milk and add for thickening and it will also add to the "corniness" of the soup.

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  14. The cornmeal idea is brilliant, Thank you for the suggestion. And someone earlier asked about seasoned pepper. I used Montreal steak spice in alot of my cooking.

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