#161 The Thing That Elevates the Chowder

One ingredient makes this soup extraordinary.

This weekend, and on the weekend two weeks from now, we are serving wine and corn chowder to as many as 3,000 people. (I wrote about this event last year in Substack #111.) Its sponsor is the Seneca Lake Wine Trail, and the two weekends raise money to help promote the region’s wineries and other attractions.

The event is called “Deck-the-Halls,” and it has been held annually for more than 35 years. It’s fun, and it’s a little goofy. It has a large following, and we participate because joint efforts like these bind the wine community together, and that is important.

Serving wine and a small snack to 3,000 people takes some thought and preparation. We have plenty of wine, but we have to come up with 3,000 small, edible portions to go with the wine. A few years ago we made a corn chowder, and it was a huge hit. So, we make it every year now. Some regular attendees look forward to it.

It is not so simple to make really tasty chowder for 3,000 people. It takes onion, garlic, potatoes, chicken stock, corn, ham, heavy cream and spices. For all but one of these ingredients, we buy bulk, frozen, powdered, minced or otherwise shelf-stable supplies.

But the ham we use in the chowder is different.

The ham comes from Schrader Farms, of Romulus, NY, located ten miles north of us. Schrader’s is a small, family-owned-and-operated meat processor. Their pork and beef is all locally-raised. We order grass fed beef for our own freezer. The pork is better than you can get anywhere else.

For the two events, we buy 80 pounds of Schrader’s smoked ham, made from pigs raised by Keith Schrader. These smoked hams come boneless, and we have to slice-and-dice them for the chowder. I do the slicing-and-dicing myself, because it is a lot of repetitive work, and I would prefer no one else cut themselves in the process.

Naturally, I taste bits of it as I am slicing. This is exceptional pork. I think this ham is the thing that makes people remember the chowder. Even a small amount of diced, Schrader Farms pork in a four-oz. cup just makes it all taste better than any chowder that I have had.

I could buy Hormel ham, and the chowder would be fine. I could even buy diced ham, save myself the work, and that would probably be okay, too. But when I am slicing-and-dicing Keith Schrader’s ham, I am doing something different. I am showing support and respect for the quality of his products. Yes, he is local, but that is not enough. His ham is better, and I respect him for how he does that. It is so far above-and-beyond Hormel.

For Deck-the-Halls, we serve chowder. It is just soup. But it is not just any ham, and that elevates the chowder. We are lucky Schrader Farms is right up the road. Hat’s off to Keith Schrader.