Old-Fashioned Corn Chowder Recipe

Directions

• Chop the bacon into bite-sized pieces. In a large pot or Dutch oven, cook the bacon pieces over medium heat. Remove the bacon just before it starts getting crispy, leaving behind the grease.
• In the bacon grease, cook the onion and celery. Once it begins to soften, stir in the garlic and cook another minute.
• Deglaze the pot with the Sherry (alternatively, just use a little chicken stock). Continue cooking until most of the Sherry cooks off.
• Sprinkle in the flour, and stir it in to coat everything. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
• Remove the corn kernels from the cobs if using fresh corn. Add the corn to the pot, along with the chicken stock, Kosher salt, black pepper, and paprika. Stir thoroughly.
• Also add the thyme and bay leaves (I like to use a small spice-steeping bag for the thyme and bay leaves so I easily remove them at the end).
• Then stir in the potatoes. Bring everything up to a simmer, and cook on a low simmer for 25 minutes, or until potatoes are fork tender. Stir regularly.
• For a thicker consistency, optionally blend 2-3 cups of the soup and stir back into pot.
• Stir in the heavy cream and half of the cooked bacon pieces. Return the pot to a low simmer, and the turn off the heat.
• Remove the bay leaves and thyme sprigs, and serve. Garnish with some of the cooked bacon, some chopped green onion, and fresh-cracked black pepper.