Is It Corny to Say I Love Corn Chowder?

Matt's back!  Matt's back!  Matt's back!  And he's offered up another of his scrumdillyicious recipes for us - Corn and Scallop Chowder.  With Fall quickly approaching and the dog days of summer upon us, this is beyond timely.  And, as with everything Matt makes, beyond yummy.  Plus, he's just in the knick of time, because I was struggling with what to share with you all this afternoon. I'll be busy roasting fifteen pounds of lamb hearts to grind into dog food.  Again.  You're welcome, Lark. 
Without further adieu, I'm turning the wheel over to Matt.
The end of Summer and a young man’s fancy turns to comfort foods. I LOVE this time of year, not that I want to force Summer out the door or anything, I just love comfort food.  This past Sunday was supposed to be a high in the 70’s and rainy all day.  Now thats hardly "leaves falling and pumpkins appearing at every store" weather, but it would have been close enough to hunker down with a good movie or three and some Lasagna or Spag & Balls, Chicken Pot Pie, Mac & Cheese or Chowder.  Trouble was that the weather man was wrong again and it was mid 90’s, sunny and humid. Reality be damned. We cranked the AC down to 66, turned on the gas fireplace and started to cook! 

I wanted to use some of the great end of summer corn that's around and my fish monger, Scott Madden from Madden’s Seafood in North Raleigh, had some great dry packed scallops, so the dye was cast and Chowder was in my sights. This recipe uses the lobster butter that we made while creating the last recipe, Butter Poached Lobster Rolls. The other key ingredient is Lobster Stock. You can make your own using lobster shells and carrots, onion & celery or you can do what I do most of the time (unless I am making a Lobster Bisque and in that case you HAVE to make your own stock) which is use Better Than Bouillon Lobster Base.  BTB Lobster Base is sold in the soup isle. The folks at BTB make all kinds of bases, like Chicken, Beef, Mushroom & Vegetable.  Most supermarkets will carry the Beef and the Chicken, some carry Lobster. If you can not find BTB Lobster Base at your local store you can order it on Amazon for $5 or $6 a jar.

I call the Lobster Base a KEY ingredient, but truth be told, all ingredients are key. We are talking about food here. Who knows, it could be your last meal and if so don’t you want that meal to be the best it can be? I always cook like I am being executed later that night. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE FOOD. So, keeping that in mind, get the best of all the ingredients you can find for this or any other recipe. I won’t even make this particular recipe in the winter or spring when fresh corn is unavailable. I smoke my own bacon in my own smoker. I like to cut the bacon chunks into pieces about the size of your fingernail square. It’s strange, but I thought when I moved to North Carolina that finding good chunks of bacon would be easy, but its not, so I make my own. If you can’t smoke your own bacon (which is easy by the way) then seek out a good chunk at your market or use salt pork or as a last resort use a good thick cut sliced bacon. 

All that being said, you can obviously still make this recipe and use regular plain old butter. My brother in law Ray makes this recipe year round using frozen shoe peg corn.  The point is is that the recipe as written is in my mind a 100 pointer. My brother Chris actually used it to win an award at the Boston Chowderfest many years ago. I wouldn’t change a thing here, but if you don’t mind a 90-95 point chowder then use regular butter and frozen corn and Oscar Meyer Thick Cut Bacon. It's still going to be outstanding.  Maybe just not orgasm inducing.

Ok, so on to the ingredient list!

¾ cup smoked bacon, diced
⅓ cup lobster butter
½ cup onions, diced
½ cup leeks, white and pale green parts only, chopped
¼ cup celery, diced
¼ cup flour
1 ½ cups lobster stock
2 cups corn kernels, all white or white and yellow, from 3 or 4 ears
1 ½ cups half & half
¾ cup fresh sea (not bay) scallops, halved and then each half quartered
Celery leaves, chopped, as garnish if desired

Lightly brown the bacon in a medium sized pot over medium low heat. You don’t want to crisp the bacon up to much, you just want to lightly brown it. It should have a soft consistency when done, not crusty or hard to chew. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon to a paper towel lined plate. Drain off and discard all but a tablespoon of the bacon fat. 

I chop the onions in a food processor. I chop them up with the leeks after I have rinsed them. You have to be careful with leeks as they can contain a good amount of sand. Chop off the bottom of the leek about ½ inch up from the base. Also discard the darker green top portion of the leek, leaving just the white and very pale green sections. Then slice the leek lengthwise and fan out the layers of each half under running cold water to wash away any sand. Then add them to the onions in the processor and give them 3 or 4 pulses to chop them up. I like to cut the celery by hand, I just like the consistency of size better. I’ll cut each piece lengthwise into 3 or 4 strips and then dice them. 

Its a good idea at this point to prep your stock and scallops & strip your corn cobs too.  Using a sharp knife and a low bowl or pot, stand an ear of corn on its end and slice the kernels away from the cob. Repeat with remaining ears until all have been stripped and you have 2 cups of kernels.

First thing to do with scallops is to remove the attached side mussel, if any. You can discard this tough side piece or do as I do and flip them to the dogs.  Cut your scallop in half, creating two disks, then cut those disks into quarters, so that each sea scallop produces 8 fingernail sized pieces. On occasion you get mutant sized sea scallops, in which case you’ll probably want to cut each scallop into 12 pieces. Just think about the ideal size of the cooked scallop piece on a spoon with the rest of the chowder and slice accordingly.  

A quick note here is to not do as I once did and think ‘If ¾ of a cup of scallops is good, then 1 ½ cups of scallops will be better”, because its not. Each ingredient works in concert with the other. Too much of one thing, no matter how yummy, will through the whole recipe off.

Using a small bowl or 2 cup Pyrex meaning cup, warm 1 ½ cups of water and 1 ½ teaspoons of BTB Lobster Base in the microwave or on the stovetop for 90 seconds or until lightly heated and mix well.

Add the lobster butter to the bacon pot over medium low heat and after it has melted, add the vegetables and sauté until translucent, but not brown.  Make sure you scrape up the browned bits from the bacon as you stir the vegetables. Add the flour and stir to incorporate. Make sure you stir the roux for at least a minute or two to get rid of the starchy flavor, a wooden spatula works best for scraping the bottom and making sure nothing browns up. 

Next add your heated lobster stock and stir until thickened, about 2 minutes. 

Add the corn, half & half and scallops to the pot and heat gently, stirring often until the first evidence of steam and a light simmer appears. At this point turn off the heat and add the bacon back into the chowder. Cover the pot and let it sit for 15 minutes. This way you do not over cook the scallops which will make them rubbery. After 15 minutes season the chowder with salt and fresh ground pepper. I usually use about ½ teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper, but just go by your taste. 

The amount of salt added to a meal is the about the most personal thing you can do to it, so I usually go light and let folks adjust the meal at the table. 

I have actually been to a few restaurants where the won’t even put salt and pepper on the table because in the chef’s estimation, the meal is served perfectly seasoned. To me that is the height of arrogance as everyone’s taste buds are different, but I digress, lets finish up.

If desired chop a few celery leaves as a garnish and add to each bowl before serving. Serve with beer or a crisp white wine like a French Burgundian Chardonnay or an Italian Pinot Grigio. Pass good bread with this chowder too if desired. Serves 6.

See, I told you it looks/sounds/tastes amazing.  As always.  Go get your own  C&SC (Corn and Scallop Chowder) fixin's and come back and let us know in the comments how it went.  
And . . . .  wait for it. . . . . you're welcome.