Corn Chowder with Prosciutto and Sage

We wanted a recipe that delivered everything we sought: velvety texture, unambiguous corn flavor, plentiful kernels, and delicacy. Here’s what we discovered:

Test Kitchen Discoveries

• We began with fresh corn. You’ll need a half dozen medium ears—use a chef’s knife to cut the kernels off the husked and silked ears.
• For depth, cook the onions and corn in the rendered fat from the prosciutto. This technique adds toasty, slightly caramelized flavors to the corn and by extension, the chowder.
• Tasters preferred red potatoes in the chowder, which retained their shape and added a pretty gleam of pink.
• To thicken the chowder and intensify flavor, instead of a traditional flour and butter roux, we pureed canned corn with some chicken broth. This produced a golden, satiny chowder base with a vibrant, fresh corn taste.
• Some recipes call for milk, but we preferred cream, which underlined the chowder’s velvety texture.
• Reserve the corn cobs to toss into the simmering chowder, and fish them out before serving. They contribute subtle but significant corn flavor.
• Be sure to use chopped fresh sage; dried sage has a particularly dull, dusty flavor.