The Deliciously Spicy Ghost Pepper Corn Chowder Recipe You Need In Your Arsenal

Ingredients:

8 ears of corn

2 - 4 ghost peppers, seeded

2 whole carrots

4 yellow potatoes

1 yellow onion

3 garlic cloves

3 c chicken stock

2 c heavy cream, half and half or whole milk

Equal parts butter and flour for a roux (61 g ea, about 1/4 c butter to 1/2 c unbleached ap flour)

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp salt

2 tsp pepper

Tools needed:

Measuring cups and spoons

Cutting board

Sharp knife

Large stock pot or dutch oven

Rubber gloves

Slotted spoon

How to make it

Ghost peppers have an amazing flavor. They taste similar to a red bell pepper before that heat kicks in!

First note I want to make is ghost peppers are extremely hot and you need to use caution when handling them. Wearing rubber gloves when cutting them up is highly recommended.

Always wash produce before cooking and consuming.

Peel and cut carrots into a small size dice, about the same size as the corn kernels.

Cut the onion into a small dice

Make sure to save those corn cobs for making a corn stock.

Cut the ends off the corn and stand upright while cutting the corn kernels off the cob. Save the cob in a zip top bag and store in the freezer. I make corn stock with this when I have around 20 of the cobs.

Remove the stem from the pepper, cut in half and remove seeds and placenta. Ghost peppers are very hot and this really won’t change the heat level noticeably. Rough chop the peppers.

Rough chop the garlic.

Small dice the potatoes.

Cut the bacon into small pieces about the same size as the corn.

Warm up our stock pot or dutch oven over medium low heat and add the bacon in. I like to give it a few turns on the pepper mill at this point in time. Stir often and render the bacon until crispy. Using a slotted spoon, remove the crispy bacon placing it in a small bowl and saving it for later. Pour all but 1 tbsp of the bacon fat from the pot, keeping for later as well.

Add the onions into the pot along with a pinch of salt. The salt will help bring out the flavor of the onion. Stirring often, sweat the onion until they turn translucent.

Add the garlic with a small pinch of salt and cook the rawness off the garlic. This should take about 1 minute, stirring often. I salt in stages using small amounts. If done right, the salt will bring out the natural flavors in the ingredients you are cooking with. Salt highlights flavor. Your chowder shouldn’t taste salty at the end of cooking. It should have a nice, well rounded flavor profile.

Add the carrots to the pot with some more bacon fat if needed. Careful not to add too much fat as it can cause the chowder to split. Sweat the carrots for 2 minutes.

Melting butter to make a roux.

Now, let’s make the roux. Reduce the heat to low. With your spoon, make a well in the middle of the carrots. Add the butter and melt thoroughly. Add the flour into the butter and mix together until a paste forms. Stir occasionally cooking the rawness off the roux. This will take around 2 minutes.

Add the stock in 1/3 of the amount at a time. Stir in the stock into the roux until smooth before adding more. Using a stock that is warm will help reduce the amount of clumps that may occur. Once all the stock has been added to the pot, add the corn, peppers, potatoes, cream and apple cider vinegar. Taste the liquid and adjust seasoning as needed. Add more salt and pepper if desired.

Turn up the heat to medium low and bring up to a simmer slowly. Bringing this up to a simmer slowly will greatly reduce the risk of the chowder breaking. Stir frequently so that nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan. The chowder will thicken as it comes up to temperature. Continue to simmer for about 10-15 minutes to cook the potatoes, corn and carrots. The potatoes will also help thicken.
Add more stock if you want it thinner or use it to thin when reheating. Once the ingredients are cooked through, serve in your favorite bowl. I like to put some hot sauce in mine, this one is my favorite!

To reheat, place in a stock pot and bring up to a low simmer very slowly stirring occasionally.

Enjoy!

Logan