Corn pottage has French origins, but it is a quintessentially Japanese comfort food. The soup has a strong hit of corn flavour and much creaminess. During Japan’s colder months, you can even find hot cans of it in vending machines alongside the hot coffees and red bean soups. You can even get corn pottage in powdered sachets. There’s nothing quite like it in Australia – it’s more than just creamed corn and it had a different flavour to canned corn soups.
In Hong Kong, however, there is Campbell’s Corn Pottage (produced in Australia, but not available for the Australian market). Each can is slightly smaller than the standard size cans in Australia.
As a condensed soup, it’s very thick – almost paste-like – coming out of the can. The bright yellow colour and the generous amount of corn kernels throughout promised an intense corn flavour. The packaging suggests either stirring in a can of water or milk to each can of condensed soup. With only one can and curious to see with method works better, I halve the condensed soup diluting half with water and the other with milk.
The serving suggestion on the packaging suggests diluting with milk for a smooth mouthfeel. Stirring in full cream milk dilutes the bright yellow paste right down to a pale yellow soup that looks exactly like the packaging (if corn kernels could float).
Diluting the condensed soup with water keeps the bright yellow colour. Good corn soups (that aren’t corn pottage) in Australia have this delicious colour. (I love corn soup, and corn generally).
Straight from the can (top), the condensed soup tastes a like salty creamed corn.
Diluted with milk (bottom left), the soup has a pleasantly smooth and creamy mouthfeel, as promised on the packaging. I find the flavour created by adding full cream milk at 1:1 ratio to be overly milky, masking any hit of corn in the soup base. It begins to taste like the base for a white sauce pasta like cabonara.
Diluted with water (bottom right), the soup tastes like a watered down version of the condensed soup as expected. What’s not expected, though, is the unpleasant flavour of starch (used as a thickener) that came through much like when gravy is made from granules. There’s a very faint hit of corn in the liquid, but not even nearly enough as the generous number of corn kernels that promise corn flavour are flavourless and there to provide texture only. I like juicy corn kernels!
Overall, Campbell’s Corn Pottage was disappointing, without the strong hit of corn flavour and creaminess that characterises corn pottage in Japan. Campbell’s also sells a corn pottage for the Japanese market, which has different packaging. Perhaps that will fair better.
was produced in Australia, and purchased in Hong Kong in 2016.