So pretty and promising, yes?

For all its good ingredients, this corn chowder turned out bland-bland-bland. For all it's chopping fuss, this chowder was bland-bland-bland. Not bad. Just not worth the effort. STOP! I take it all back!

• 8/8 Guinea Pig Taste Report: My back-door neighbor called this morning to report that late last night, with salt added, this chowder tasted "absolutely delicious". Perhaps it needed to sit awhile?
  
  
• 8/9 Taste Report: I heated up a bowl for supper last night and it was absolutely delicious, creamy and full of corn essence. It DID just need to sit awhile!
  

That said, this does take awhile, making it a perfect family project some lazy afternoon or a great way to have an hour's conversation with someone. So -- if those are reasons enough to give this a try, here are some recommendations:

• (I still recommend this) Use regular yellow onions, not a sweet onion. It's counter-intuitive, but sweet onions impart their subtle sweetness only when raw, not cooked.
  
• (Ditto.) Skip the pepper and the sweet potato. The pepper adds little; the sweet potato nothing, not even color thanks to the carrots.
  
• (Ditto.) Add salt far earlier, probably with the potatoes and broth.
  
• (Whole milk is fine.) Consider using evaporated milk. It's used in my long-time favorite recipe for corn chowder and may provide the milky/rich dimension without the calories of cream.
  

CORN CHOWDER
Hands-on time: 50 minutes
Time to table: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Makes 12 cups

1/2 cup diced bacon (from 5 slices)
2 cups diced sweet/Vidalia onion, from 1 large onion (see recommendations, above)
2 large carrots, diced (about 1 cup)
2 stalks celery, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 red bell pepper, diced (I used an on-hand orange pepper, red would have given color contrast to the carrots)
3/4 pound Yukon gold potatoes, diced (left unpeeled)
3/4 pound sweet potato, peeled and diced (from 1 medium sweet potato)
6 cups (a 48 ounce can) reduced-salt chicken broth (try Swanson's 100% Natural Goodness which is recommended by Cook's Illustrated)
2 fresh sprigs of thyme (from the garden!)
3 cups fresh sweet corn kernels (from about 6 ears)
1 1/2 cups whole milk (the recipe specified cream, see recommedations above)
Salt to taste, pepper to taste

In a very large pot or Dutch oven, cook the bacon over MEDIUM HIGH until crisp. Transfer to paper towels to cool, leaving the bacon grease in the pot.

While the bacon cooks, chop the onion, carrots, celery and red pepper. Add to the bacon grease and saute until the onion softens, about 10 minutes. While the onion mixture cooks, chop the potatoes. Add the potatoes, broth and thyme to the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to MEDIUM and simmer, covered, until the potatoes are just cooked. (Note: It took nearly 30 minutes, uncovered, for the mixture to come to a boil. In this time, the potatoes were already cooked.) Add the milk and the corn and cook for about 10 minutes, until the corn is cooked. Remove the thyme sprigs. Season to taste. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours and preferably overnight before serving.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Cup: 142 Cal (18% from Fat, 17% from Protein, 65% from Carb); 7 g Protein; 3 g Tot Fat; 1 g Sat Fat; 24 g Carb; 4 g Fiber; 29 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 410 mg Sodium; 8 mg Cholesterol, Weight Watchers 2 points

SOURCE
Gourmet, July 2005