Limited Edition Aged Turkey Day Corn Chowder Recipe

Okay, I give in: here’s the recipe for my famous Turkey Day Corn Chowder. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

• Thanksgiving Day
That’s right, this must only be served on Thanksgiving Day, preferably in the morning, before the fog has burned off, and well in advance of the big meal of the day.
• A parking lot
You can’t serve this chowder indoors: it tastes best ladled out of a big pot sitting in the trunk. Given that you also need to serve this on Thanksgiving Day, you will need to search for your location well in advance. I serve this in the parking lot behind Burial Hill in Plymouth, across from the old Police Station. One alternative location might be a lot by the football field where the local game is played.
• Seasonal weather
Some chowders work well in any season, but this nuclear fuel is best served outdoors, at temperatures between 10 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Close friends (4 or more)
This is a critical component, for a variety of reasons. First, who loves you enough to taste, let alone eat this cholesterol-loving power chowder? Good friends at least feel obligated to give it a try. Second, why risk this on family members?
• Bacon
¾ pound of it, cut up in to ½ inch size pieces and barely browned in a big pot. If you are a vegetarian you are out of luck. If you just read Charlotte’s Web you may shed a tear. If you just listened to Aaron Copeland’s ‘Rodeo’ and you are already salivating, go ahead and add the remaining ¼ pound of bacon.
• Did I mention rain?
The worse the weather, the better the taste: in fact, the colder the better. Cold and rainy is perfect; though do try to keep the trunk half-shut to keep the chowder from becoming diluted.
• Onion
A nice, mild, medium size onion, diced and placed in the pot with the bacon just before it browns, giving it just enough time to tenderize.
• Weight conscious guests
For dramatic effect, it helps if your guests are watching their weight, and their cholesterol, and perhaps even complaining of chest pains just prior to you serving up big heaping steaming helpings of this chowder, and exclaiming as you do, “Don’t worry, it’s only 1000 calories per ‘serving’.”
• Cream
The main reason for the calories: a quart of heavy cream, or more. If you want the ‘mouth feel’ that tells your brain that all is right with the world, real cream is a clear requirement. If you want a chowder that is a powder keg of flavor, pour on the cream. If you want to strike fear in your middle-aged friends, when they ask you why it tastes so good, just wink and say: ‘nothing that tastes this good can be good for you’.
• Burial Hill
I’ve changed my mind about the football field. That’s a chef’s prerogative. This chowder was created for, and has only been served on Burial Hill on Thanksgiving Day morning, and that’s the way I want it to stay. If you need something warm at the big game, stop by Dunkin Donuts. If you want to join us Thanksgiving Day morning, you’re welcome to stop by. But bring your own chowder.
I mean, come on: can anything top having an al fresco brunch on Burial Hill on this holiday morning, well before the big meal of the day? We have champagne mimosas, pumpkin bread, pastries, coffee and corn chowder, and then head up over the hill to watch the Pilgrim’s Progress.
It’s amazing: the whole country is celebrating this holiday, but only a few dozen people manage to make it to this spot, stand on the historic hill overlooking an often mist-covered Plymouth harbor, and listen to costumed descendants perform a line reading of psalms that the pilgrims themselves may have sung nearly 400 years ago.
• Potatoes
6-8 medium sized potatoes, of any variety, depending on your sense of how the chowder should look, and sound.
I like to use Yukon Jack, for their color and flavor, but also for this variety’s ability to retain its shape over 24 hours of slow cooking. Out of the ladle or the thermos my chowder gurgles and glugs and drops noisily into the bowl. You may prefer a different spud that dissolves into the mixture as it slowly cooks, creating a very thick but smooth soup.
• White Shoepeg Corn
No substitutions here, and this may prove the most difficult of the ingredients to find. The Shoepeg variety is not common, and goes quickly at this time of year. But other varieties are not as tart, and not as sturdy.
In the end, despite the long, slow cook process, each of the ingredients needs to retain its identity or what you have is lovely, warm, baby food.
• Old Friends
We have been meeting on Burial Hill Thanksgiving Day morning for 25 years, and every year though we get older, the chowder gets better. Or at least, it seems better. Or so I am told. It may not be the taste. No one lies better than friends who love you.
• Tradition
Traditions are the tried and true spices of life: the ingredients with which we slowly and inevitably bring out the rich flavors of the everyday.
Oh, and don’t forget to season (garlic, salt, pepper) the chowder as it cooks, to taste.

If you give this chowder the care it deserves, the time it requires, and the ingredients I have listed, you’re sure to really have something special, in ten years or so.