New England fall. Cool, dry, crisp air. Sapphire skies. Trees on fire with color. No better weather to be active outside. Nothing better than coming home hungry to a steaming bowl of hearty, flavorful comfort. And, wow, Hurricane’s Maine Shrimp & Corn Chowder does that just right.
I got my soup the way most restaurants and individual customers have gotten it since Hurricane’s started shipping soup in 2009: securely sealed in bags home delivered in a well chilled box. And, right out of the box, I kinda’ disobeyed the directions. I knew I’d be going away soon. So, instead of refrigerating the bags, I put them straight in the freezer.
The next day, I came home from a brisk bike sprint through leaf skipping, swirling wind and temperatures that were suddenly 20 degrees cooler than the day before. I’d already started to defrost the bag of Maine Shrimp & Corn Chowder in pot of cool tap water earlier in the morning. When I got home, the soup was just about thoroughly defrosted. Great! I warmed the soup quickly – very easy to do. But before taking my first bite, I spooned through the bowl to get a good look at the main ingredients. Almost every spoonful came up with one to two whole medium sized Maine shrimp. Each spoonful was also crowded with bright yellow corn kernels and small-diced potato pieces. And all those fresh ingredients swam beautifully in a warm sea of light orange colored cream sauce.
But just as it should be, this soup was more than a feast for the eyes. First, I was pleasantly surprised by how tender and succulent the shrimp were, especially considering they’d been cooked, packaged, shipped, frozen (by me – NOT by Hurricane’s), defrosted and warmed again. But every shrimp was every bit as tender and flavorfully succulent as the one before it. Excellent!
The same went for the corn – sweet & crisp – and the potatoes – tender but still firm. And that light orange cream sauce was just as comfortably flavorful as it was visually pleasing. Now, I love flavor and loved that soup base just the way it was. That’s unusual for me. I usually play around with different spices with dishes I bring home. But, for me this time, other than a quick crack of fresh black pepper, there was no need. Fantastic!
Hurricane’s is a family owned business out of Greene, Maine that takes pride in using locally fresh, minimally processed, gluten-free ingredients. They also make a point of using no preservatives, artificial ingredients or MSG. All together Hurricane’s delivers a Maine Shrimp & Corn Chowder that’s a pure, nearly hands off pleasure to enjoy! As they say on packaging box, and I agree completely, “This is some seriously good chowdah!”