Creamy Comfort Corn Chowder

Da Long's Note:

This is a corn chowder recipe which is actually adopted from our restaurant's famous conch chowder...that one's a trade secret, but we find that when you want the -comfort food-, this recipe should do nicely for your family, as it does ours! I simplified this recipe in many ways to be home-friendly and use the least amount of preparation, steps, and cooking dishes possible -- when we are at home, we don't have the benefit of a paid dishwasher! One note on this recipe -- Among other things, I cut out the par-boiling of the potatoes, so just make sure you -carefully- watch the cooking time on the potatoes, and tweak the recipe according to your preference of softness -- and we also like the skin-on approach when we are feeling particularly homey ;)

• Total Time: 2 hrs
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 45 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 16

Yield: 16.0 bowls

• 2 large carrots, Chopped
• 5 stalks celery, Chopped
• 3 medium onions, Chopped
• 1/3 cup fresh thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 12 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 (16 ounce) can cream-style sweet corn
• 8 ounces ham steaks, Cubed
• 12 ounces frozen corn
• 5 medium potatoes, Chopped
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 quart heavy cream

Directions:

1. 1. In stock pot, bring to a boil carrots, celery, onions, thyme, white pepper, salt, and chicken stock, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour.
2. 2. Prepare Roux: Melt butter; whisk in flour until smooth paste.
3. 3. To stock pot, add creamed-style corn, ham, potatoes, cayenne; bring back to simmer.
4. 4. Stir in roux; simmer/low boil covered 20 minutes.
5. 5. To stock pot, add heavy cream and frozen corn; return to boil and simmer uncovered 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.