Tracy’s Corn and Crab Chowder

I’ve been traveling to Dauphin Island, Alabama annually for 12 years for some seaside grillin’ and chillin’.  This year Grillin’ Fool Tom and his lovely bride, Tracy, joined us for the excursion.  Although we grilled snapper, grouper, tuna, sheephead, shrimp, scallops and more, this post highlights the first evening we didn’t grill so for a brief time call us The Cookin’ Fools.  The actual cooking honors go to Tracy (she’s really a Grillin’ Foolette) for this shore delight, Tracy’s Crab and Corn Chowder.

***Editor’s Note ~ This post prompted me to add a category called ‘Cooked Inside‘ under the methods tab above. From time to time, we’ll add more to this category because sometimes we just don’t want to grill. I know that’s crazy talk, but once a year isn’t so bad! ***

Crab and Corn Chowder Ingredients:

2 cups corn (preferably fresh sub frozen in a pinch-we found new crop Florida corn)
2 potatoes-diced (we used Yukon gold variety)
2 stalks celery-diced
1 medium sweet onion-diced
2 tbsp minced garlic or 3-4 cloves diced
2 bay leaves
1 bunch green onions-diced
3 strips bacon-diced
8 oz. shredded cheese-we used a combo of farmer’s cheese and Colby-jack but many varieties will suffice.
32 oz. chicken broth
1 ½ cups heavy cream
16 oz. claw crab-picked through to remove any bits of shell
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
Old Bay Seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste (go easy on the salt)

Note: We decided to kick the seafood up a couple notches.  A pound of fresh medium shrimp was added along with 2 leftover (how the hell did that happen?) grilled scallops that were diced.  So technically this has become seafood and corn chowder. More is better, right?

Our source for fresh seafood was Skinner’s Seafood Shop located on the island.  They have rendered great service and quality product along with the best bayou bulls**t around.  Great folks.

Here’s the shrimp alongside the diced large scallops:

And here is the crab meat. We used claw meat because Gloria said it was sweeter than lump—yep, sweeter, just like her!  Hey!  When the locals offer tips for a better cook I listen.

First step, Tracy crisps the bacon in a pot then sets it aside to drain while reserving the drippings.  There’s absolutely nothing wrong with adding bacon to a recipe is there?   The bacon will be incorporated into the garnish later.

Utilizing the bacon drippings in the pot, add celery, onion, salt, and pepper, then sautee until vegetables are tender:

Next add 2 tbsp of all-purpose flour and cook, stirring frequently, for 3-5 minutes and then add the broth:

Add the corn and potatoes followed by 3 or so shakes of Old Bay seasoning:

Then stir in a couple of bay leaves.  Simmer until potatoes are fork tender, approximately 20 minutes:

Add the crabmeat and simmer for another 10 minutes:

Remove the bay leaves and add the (very optional) fresh shrimp and diced leftover grilled scallops:

Then stir in the heavy cream and simmer until shrimp are opaque, usually around 5 minutes:

Bring out the board of garnish, crumbled crisp bacon, diced green onion, and shredded cheeses. We used a combo of farmer’s cheese and Colby-jack but the possibilities are endless, cheddar, asiago, gouda and so on:

Bowl it!  That replaces plate it!   Sprinkle with the toppings, serve with heated hearty French bread from the local Lighthouse Bakery (more on those folks in the future) and a glass (or two) of Twomey Sauvignon Blanc:

This was a very enjoyable, very tasty meal and the degree of difficulty was low in spite of all that goes on.  The key is having everything mise en place and the ingredients fall into place quite nicely for this recipe.  Thanks to Tracy, and Tom too, for a lovely seaside dinner.

 

This article was initially published on: May 12, 2014