Cooking with Corn

Deft handling in the kitchen keeps this summer treat sweet and tender.

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by Deborah MadisonAugust 1997from go forth # 10

At a certain point in August in Santa Fe , shopper at the farmers ’ market get going eyeball each other ’s armloads and baskets of vegetables for honeyed corn . Although many of our farmers grow delicious corn , everyone seems to be waiting for Don Shweybach , who drive up from the middle of the state , cart a huge bin of prospicient , green ear . It ’s warm where he lives , so his Indian corn is ready first and we ’re just as ready . We crowd against the bin , peck through the ears and finally purchase a dozen or more . At every dinner for the next few week there ’s certain to be corn on the mesa . Indeed , the time of year for corn is short and sweet . In search of sweetnessWhen it comes to run through maize fresh , a starchy spike just wo n’t do . Corn breeders do it this , and they ’ve been strain to satisfy our appetence for sweet and affectionate auricle since the turn of the century .

The dirt on corn whisky obscenity

When I was a kid , my father lever the fleshy fungus unappealingly called corn soot that he occasionally notice growing on the ear of our field Indian corn . He know it was good eating , but I conceive it abhorrent , as most North Americans do .

In Central America , however , corn fungus , orhuitlacoche , is pry , as any wild mushroom cloud is . It is used as filling for corn crêpes and tacos . Should you get along across some , slice or cube it and sauté it as you would regular mushroom .

cherubic , sweet-scented , and sweetest . Their efforts have have us three type of scented corn — regular sweet , sugar - heighten , and supersweet . ‘ Golden Bantam ’ , develop in 1902 , falls into the first category . It combines honest old - fashioned Indian corn taste sensation with redolence , get a delectable corny - tasting capitulum . scratch - raise salmagundi have heavy sweetness but still retain good Zea mays character . When it comes to the supersweets , their unmingled lucre density be given to overshadow the flavor of the corn whiskey itself , but they ’re highly popular with grocers because the bread are slow to turn to starch .

I do n’t notice a difference in feeling between white , yellow-bellied , and bi - coloured ears , but I have noticed it ’s get harder to find chickenhearted corn . Perhaps citizenry consider it ’s stiff , but that ’s not unfeigned , and I often miss the feeling yellow kernels give to a dish . In spite of the lasting qualities of today ’s angelic hybrids , fresh is always good . If you ’re growing corn , you bonk you ’re cooking with the saucy . But if you ’re buying it , here are some tips . First , try out the husks — they should look dampish and green . If they ’re dried out , the kernel probably are starting to dry as well . The husks help keep the kernels fresh and moist , which is why peeling them back is discouraged by most Farmer . Instead , habituate your hired hand to feel for the kernels through the husk . The rows should be well sate and the kernels plump . Many hoi polloi also peel back the husks to see if the tip is wormy . Often it is — maize is very susceptible to pests — but a louse at the tip is n’t a handsome deal , and if it means few pesticide were used , all the better . Just cut off the tip and give it a rinsing .

utilize corn ’s sweet to full advantage

recipe :

•Savory Corn Pancakes with Pepper Relish•Sweet Corn Soup with Cilantro Salsa•Calabacitas•Grilled Striped Bass with Corn , Tomato , and Basil Salad•Zucchini with Roasted Peppers , Corn and Cream•Chardonnay lover ’ Creamy Corn Polenta

More on clavus :

•How to freeze out Corn

No matter how you cook it , the excess redolence of today ’s corn needs to be consider into account when it comes to seasoning . Butter , salt , and Piper nigrum are always good . Many herbs flatter clavus — basil , cilantro , Levisticum officinale , Anethum graveolens , and marjoram are a few of my favorites . Vegetables that pair well are those that apportion the season — tomatoes with plenty of acid , bell peppers , zucchini and other crush , and also mushroom . Cheese lends proportionality , especially senior high mallow that has a bit of salt in it , but also the more delicate Monterey Jack , fresh mozzarella , and fresh goat cheese . It ’s chiles , though , that really complement corn whiskey ’s sweetness — roasted comic strip of poblanos call down into a soup , grill New Mexico or other recollective , unripe chili pepper in calabacitas , or compound butter flecked with ground dried chile , minced serranos , or a bit of puréed chipotle , spread over an ear of corn .

On the cobis just about everyone ’s favourite elbow room to eat seraphic corn whiskey , specially at the start of the time of year . bracing ears , dismiss into a potentiometer of chop-chop boil water , need only two or three minutes to get red-hot and take the edge off their soreness . Do n’t summate salt to the water , though ; that toughens the corn whiskey .

Or hear grilled corn . Pull back the shuck , remove the silk , then soak the ears in insensate piss for 20 proceedings or so . Pull the chaff up over the ears , twist their tops , and set them on the grill or even in the coals ( pic , above ) . The water from soaking create steam , which cooks the kernels . Once the kernels are cooked , you’re able to pull back the husks and grill the ears a little longer to embrown them . Salt , pepper , and a squeeze play of burnt lime tote up the finishing cutaneous senses .

Cutting the kernels off the cobgives us a mountain more possibilities for using corn whiskey — in succotash , soups , stews , cream , and in baked goodness . There ’s a special cock for this , but I just expend a tongue . Stand an ear erect , radical goal resting securely on a cut board . With a sharp knife , shave off the top one-half of the kernels using a zigzag motion as your knife travels down the length of the spike . Then reverse your knife and with the slow side of the blade , repeat the apparent movement , press hard to tweet out the bottom portion of the kernel and the milk , known as the scratch . This way you get all of the kernel and sweet juices , but none of the sinewy skins . I commonly figure 3⁄4 loving cup of kernel from one spike , but of path this varies a bit depending on the size of it .

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Sweet corn straight from the garden is one of summer’s great pleasures.Photo/Illustration: Boyd Hagen

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