Cooking from cookbooks - corn chowder

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As you know, I have a cookbook problem. I've written about this before, about my tendency to buy cookbooks and not use them. Sometime ago I set a goal of cooking from cookbooks weekly. I completely failed. Instead I'm trying to cook from cookbooks regularly. Sometimes good enough is good enough.

The Yankee Cookbook by Imogene Wolcott is one of several I acquired from my partner's mom. She loved to cook when younger and all of her cookbooks are well used. It's copyright 1939 though this edition is from 1963. I especially love the subtitle: An Anthology of Incomparable Recipes From the Six New England States and a Little Something about the People whose Tradition for Good Eating is herein permanently recoded. Lovely! I am charmed by the interstitial comments in this book, including attribution and other cultural notes.

I made corn chowder, more or less following the recipe in this book. Here it is, with surrounding recipes for your use and amusement:

I replaced canned corn with fresh (since I had some from my farm share) used half-and-half instead of cream and skipped the crackers.

The soup was really tasty, but boy, was it rich. Recipes like this remind me that not too long ago, fat wasn't the enemy. You got your calories where you could and savored every drop.

I hope you make this soup. Or deerfoot chowder, or any of the other recipes on this page. Let me know how it turns out, I'd love to know.

(c) 2011 Laura S. Packer

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