Since the season for sweet corn is rapidly approaching, I thought I'd post the Phil's Favorite Food way of cooking it. Most sweet corn, particularly in restaurants (except for The Prime Rib, where the corn is delicious), cook the corn too long and it gets tough, changing the sweetness of the proteins to tough fibers. No. Sweet corn should be cooked as briefly as possible.
Start, if you can, with corn that has been pulled from the stalks just a few minutes ago. Well, I know that's not possible. But once you've bought corn, from whatever source, don't let it linger in your refrigerator for a few days. The sweetness in sweet corn is reduced the longer it's held. So start with fresh corn. Strip the ears and remove any of the silky strands that linger. (I didn't know this until my farmer brother-in-law taught me, that each kernel came from one of those strands, so there are as many strands of silk a there are kernels. Imagine!)
Then bring a big pot of water to the fastest, most roiling boil possible. Best to do this without a lid because if you use a lid, when the lid is removed, the water automatically, and immediately, loses heat. At this point, plunge the corn into the madly boiling water, cover the pot, and remove it from the heat. Allow the corn to remain in the water for no more than 3 minutes, and preferably 2. Remove the corn from the water immediately.
Don''t salt the water in the pot because you're going to salt the corn, on the cob. The best way to butter the hot corn is to butter a slice of bread, curl the bread around the corn and slide the bread up and down the cob. This butters the corn evenly without burning your fingers. Then salt the ear to your taste, and enjoy. Eat it across the kernels or up and around them, as you wish. It won't make any difference to the taste.
Remember: the longer you cook the corn, the more sweetness you lose. Try my good 'ole Eastern Shore method. It'll produce the best sweet corn on the cob you've ever had.
And skip grilling it in the husks. That's cute, but it doesn't produce great corn the way the above method does.
Start, if you can, with corn that has been pulled from the stalks just a few minutes ago. Well, I know that's not possible. But once you've bought corn, from whatever source, don't let it linger in your refrigerator for a few days. The sweetness in sweet corn is reduced the longer it's held. So start with fresh corn. Strip the ears and remove any of the silky strands that linger. (I didn't know this until my farmer brother-in-law taught me, that each kernel came from one of those strands, so there are as many strands of silk a there are kernels. Imagine!)
Then bring a big pot of water to the fastest, most roiling boil possible. Best to do this without a lid because if you use a lid, when the lid is removed, the water automatically, and immediately, loses heat. At this point, plunge the corn into the madly boiling water, cover the pot, and remove it from the heat. Allow the corn to remain in the water for no more than 3 minutes, and preferably 2. Remove the corn from the water immediately.
Don''t salt the water in the pot because you're going to salt the corn, on the cob. The best way to butter the hot corn is to butter a slice of bread, curl the bread around the corn and slide the bread up and down the cob. This butters the corn evenly without burning your fingers. Then salt the ear to your taste, and enjoy. Eat it across the kernels or up and around them, as you wish. It won't make any difference to the taste.
Remember: the longer you cook the corn, the more sweetness you lose. Try my good 'ole Eastern Shore method. It'll produce the best sweet corn on the cob you've ever had.
And skip grilling it in the husks. That's cute, but it doesn't produce great corn the way the above method does.
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