Let’s Cook! – November 1, 2023
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LINDA HOSKINS
If you are in the mood for some good soup, I have a recipe that you might like. This Cheesy Ham Chowder is good comfort food, and filling. I will give you the recipe in its original form, then tell you of a couple changes I made.
CHEESY HAM
CHOWDER
(makes 10 servings)
■ 10 bacon strips, diced
■ 1 large onion, diced
■ 1 cup diced carrots
■ 3 Tbsp flour
■ 3 cups whole milk
■ 1 1/2 cup water
■ 2 1/2 cups cubed potatoes
■ 15 1/2 oz can whole kernel corn
■ 2 tsp chicken bouillon
■ pepper
■ 3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
■ 2 cups cubed ham
In a Dutch oven, cook bacon over medium heat until crispy. Remove bacon, leaving drippings in the pan. Set bacon aside and keep warm. In the drippings, sauté onions and carrots until tender. Stir in flour, gradually add milk and water. Bring to a boil, cook and stir until thickened, about two minutes.
Add potatoes, corn, bouillon and pepper. Reduce heat, simmer uncovered until potatoes tender, about 20 minutes. Add cheese and ham. Heat through until the cheese melted. Stir in bacon.
When I made this recipe, I counted out my ten slices bacon and saw that I had two slices left in the package. I went ahead and cooked those too, because, well, you can never have too much bacon! Also, I added some chopped celery just because I love the flavor of celery in my soup. I sauteed the celery along with the onions and carrots.
While fixing the soup, I didn’t think it was thickening up enough, so I added a bit more flour. If you do this, it’s best to mix a little water and flour before adding it to soup. Don’t just dump flour in.
Two things I do to make this recipe easier to make, is to use frozen chopped onion and frozen Southern hash browns. I always have frozen chopped onion in the freezer because I really can’t stand to chop onions, it really gets the tears flowing! If you use the frozen potatoes, let them thaw a bit for faster cooking.
Also, if you want to serve this for company and want to get fancy, save some of the cooked bacon to sprinkle on top of servings of chowder. It would make a nice garnish.
I made biscuits to go with this chowder which was good. Next time I prepare this chowder, I will make cornbread as a side.
For those of you who like a bit of trivia, chowder is a rich and hearty soup that usually has seafood or chicken that starts with a base of bacon and several veggies likes onions, celery and potatoes. Chowder is a “soup” that is thickened with flour paste. The word chowder comes from the French word “chaudron”, meaning cauldron (a large kettle). One of the more popular chowders is clam chowder, which some people like to add a tomato base to. Did you know there is a lot of controversy over whether chowder should have tomatoes or a tomato base in it? Back in 1939, a Rev. Sleeper asked the Maine legislature to draft a bill to make the addition of tomatoes into clam chowder illegal! It’s still a contemptuous subject all these years later.
If you have a recipe to share, please send to [email protected] or mail to Mascoutah Herald, PO Box C, Mascoutah IL 62258. Thanks, and Happy Cooking!
