Sweetcorn Chowder

Stand a cob upright in a wide bowl and cut the kernels off in strips, running the knife down the length of it close to the core and turning it as you go.

Strip the rest the same way, which gives about 600g of kernels.

Scrape the back of the knife down each bare cob over the bowl, pressing out the milky liquid left in the sockets.

Snap the stripped cobs in half.

Put the cobs in a pan with the stock, the thyme sprigs and the bay leaf.

Simmer covered for 20 minutes, until the stock smells sweetly of corn.

Lift the cobs out with tongs and discard them. Most of the sweetness of a corn cob is in the cob itself and goes in the bin with it; twenty minutes in the stock pulls that back into the pan, and it is the difference between this and a potato soup with corn in it.

Melt the butter in a wide heavy pan over medium-low heat.

Cook the onion and celery for 8-10 minutes, stirring now and then, until they are soft and translucent with no colour on them.

Add the diced potato and turn it through the butter.

Pour the corn stock in through a sieve, so the thyme stalks and the bay leaf stay behind.

Simmer for 12-15 minutes, until a knife tip slides into a piece of potato with no resistance.

Add the corn kernels and any milky liquid left in the bowl.

Simmer for 3-4 minutes only, until the kernels are hot through and still burst when you bite one. Held longer they toughen and go starchy.

Ladle about a third of the soup into a blender.

Hold the lid down with a folded tea towel and start on the lowest speed, since hot soup expands hard against a closed lid.

Blend for 30-40 seconds, until completely smooth.

Stir the puree back into the pan. A third is the right amount: it gives the soup the body of something thickened while leaving whole kernels and pieces of potato to bite on, where blending the lot turns it into a puree with nothing left to chew.

Pour in the milk and the cream.

Warm over low heat for 4-5 minutes, to the point where steam rises but no bubble breaks the surface. Once dairy is in the pan it must not boil — the proteins tighten and the chowder splits into grains sitting in a thin liquid, and no amount of stirring brings it back. The miso ramen in this collection stops short of a boil at the same stage for the same kind of reason.

Season with the fine salt and the ground peppercorns.

Taste and correct the salt now the dairy is in, since cream flattens seasoning.

Scatter the chives over the bowls as you serve.