OYSTER AND CORN CHOWDER is so healthy and delectable and smooth as velvet on your tongue...it's the only way I can eat Oysters...the secret is not to let it all boil...it's a low, slow fire sort of meal....

OYSTER AND CORN CHOWDER

Chowders are famous all over Cajun Country, and the deeper southwest you go the richer they get in texture and flavor. This is the only recipe I know for what I often also call Oyster Stew, and it is delicious. One secret is: cook it up on low heat all the way through the process, so the oysters don't stiffen up and get tough, and so the texture stays like velvet....

In your three quart cooking pan, mix a 10-12 ounce package of frozen cut corn, or three to four ears of cut corn with the milk, about a two cups of cleaned, cut-up leeks, two teaspoons of chicken bouillon cubes crushed, a quarter teaspoon or white or black fine pepper, a pinch of salt, a full bay leaf, and 3/4 cups of weak-coffee water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. cover simmering for about ten minutes. don't drain em. stir in two cups of half and half, and then stir in about an ounce or so of flakes of swiss cheese... cook over low heat for about 3 minutes or so. stir in two eight-ouch cans of whole oysters, shelled of course...heat the whole mix through, stirring gently over the low heat. serve from the pan into soup bowls, after taking out the bay leaf!... garnish with chopped chives and maybe a few very thin strips of red and yellow bell pepper...sometimes, I add a roux to this Chowder, along with the Holy Trinity, to make the whole dish more of a stew....

Poem here:

My Daddy was from the Deep South
To the West where the Cajuns sing
An' pass dat jar of whiskey bright
Eat Oyster Chowder through the night
Filled with corn and roux so right
Brightens us until the Light of
Early Mornin' come up
Til Early Mornin' come