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What About Corn on the Cob?

The summer comfort thread got me to thinking about how many ways I've eaten corn on the cob. My current thrill is a quick boil (saves having to fire up the barbie) and then slathering it with sour cream (born out of a lack of Mexican fresh cheese) and then sprinkled with coarse salt and fresh cracked pepper. I've been there with lime juice and chili powder, butter and salt and even the minimalist corn-only crowd. Love em all. What is your current jag of choice as far as COC is concerned?

30 Comments:

Just enjoyed some corn on the cob the other night with some steaks. No better way to celebrate the winding down of summer. For me, they have to be on the bbq, w/ salt, pepper and butter. Or, sometimes with a compound butter (garlic, lime, jalapeno). I love fresh corn. And the leftovers are great in a salad type dish I do with grilled zucchini and red onions.

Note to self: pick up more corn at store today. :)

I look forward to COC season every year. I serve it grilled or simply boiled with butter S&P and the occasional side order of chipotle lime butter (DH's favorite!) We eat it several times each week and I never get tired of it. I just wish the season was longer!!

I think I'm in the minimalist corn-only crowd! I like the way you put that :) If the quality of the corn is high enough, it definitely doesn't need anything else!


Hillary
Chew on That

I'm with Hillary. We currently have excellent sweet corn available from a local farm. It's so good, all it needs is a quick boil, and no nuthin' else. Tasty!

I love it any way. I also like to grill it and cut it off the cob and add it to a salad. I haven't tried it with sour cream though, that sounds good!

i am a sucker for lime and chilipowder. that said, the most amusing thing to me every year is to watch the corn prices at the markets.....as soon as the fresh corn starts to show up it can start as high as 1$/ear, then at its height of the season they cant give them away!LOL I have seen a sign @a farmers market that said "2$, take all you can carry.....we have plenty of bags!"

@concreteoatmeal, Oh how I'd love to spend late summer in your neighborhood. Where we live, we have to be very careful not to spend top dollar on field corn meant to feed the livestock. It is so bad that we rarely risk buying more than three or four ears at once and by the time we know we got the right stuff, there isn't any left in the market ;~(

lots o' butter...lots o' salt

I think I need a more creative "foodie" name...

@carolrsf, I'm thinking you should call yourself "compoundbutter". Unsalted, of course! ;-)

Definately in the minimalist crowd! My local farms have the best sweet corn. I have developed a relationship with the farmers and they let me know the times the tractors come in from the fields so I can be there to meet them to get the freshest corn. I prefer bi-color with small kernels.

I simply steam the cobs on the stove. I like my corn just heated through with a small amount of butter and a little salt. I have also been known to eat an ear raw, it is that good!

I know its not good for you.....but deep fried it's really good!!

@Markbb, do they coat it with something first? I've not heard of deep-fried COC, and I'm real curious about it!

I love coc! Just butter & salt for me.

Butter and salt for me too.

@LunaPierCook I guess you can, but I don't, just drop the ears in the frier and eat with butter and crazy salt, you'll know when they're done...also try skewering the corn kinda like a corndog, its a hit around here when we have fish frys

Corn season is on its way out ;_;
I'm a part of the minimalist crowd. I just think a lot of butter and salt tastes odd on corn. It overpowers a nice ear of corn, not to mention makes the eating experience very greasy!

I can see why people like things like cheese on corn and such, but I just love the simple taste of very fresh, peak of the season corn too much to cover it up with anything at all.

I used to love slathering the butter on as a kid. Now, I am a minimalist corn-only. That lime thing sounds fabulous though, I will have to try that sometime.

Lightly salted. That's all.

just quickly steamed. although -- here's a confession. i don't really care for the icky super sweet corn that seems to be all you can get at the greenmarket these days. in fact i haven't eaten corn all summer because the one time i got some, it was toothnumbingly sweet.

i'm not eating bacon these days, but one way i did used to manage to tame the sweetness was to cut the kernels off the cob and saute them with chopped bacon. then you throw in some scallions at the last minute. i got that from some martha stewart publication or other, and man, it's divine.

Just a light film of pesto on hot COC next to thick slabs of tomatoes still warm from the summer sun and a glass of chilled Barnard & Griffen rose' of sangiovese. Make that two glasses. HEAVEN!

The best is melt 2 Tbl of butter, add 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tsp brown sugar, 1 tsp chili powder. Brush this over grilled corn or boiled. The little sweetness of the sugar and the chili powder are great together!

CZKEN.....I think your sour cream, salt, pepper is the best, thats a german recipe, my mom fixed it that way all the time. Another idea is plain yogart, salt, pepper, its also good and good if your on a diet, or watching your cholestrol.

Ever since Good eats COC I do not make it any other way. Peel back husk, removing the hairs but leaving some husk ( gives it a nice grassy flavor) boil it using sugar instead of salt. After a few minutes take it out of the water. Now I add my little touch, butter and salt it, wrap it in foil and keep it warm on the grill. By grilling it, it kinda like steams the butter and salt flavor right into the kernals.

But when I was a kid, smothered with peanut butter.

Both as a child and as an adult, I have mostly eaten COC that's been boiled. Occasionally, during the summer, we'd have it wrapped in tin foil and cooked over a campfire. Then, a few years ago, I was watching one of the episodes of the Nero Wolfe series on A&E. Wolfe was both gourmet and gourmand, demanding perfect food. One of the episodes involved fresh-picked COC. He claimed that the "only" way to cook COC properly was to oven-roast it while still in the husk, and that it must be done within hours of picking. The author of the original novels, Rex Stout, knew more about food than his detective, so I decided to try a variation on that method.

My variations were to pull down the husk first, leaving the inner husks attached at the base. This allowed me to remove the silk. Then I sprinkled lightly with salt and wrapped each ear back inside the inner husk pieces. Finally I wrapped the top in tin foil, to hold the top husk together, and oven-roasted the ears. They were very good, much crispier-tasting (not hard) than boiled COC. I've also modified this to do it in the microwave: instead of the foil, I rolled them in wax-paper. They come out a bit crispier than boiled, though not "as" crispy as baked. The entire family likes COC this way, so we no longer boil.

@cybercita:

That bacon and corn dish is something my mother's been making since I was a kid! I didn't think anyone else made corn that way! These days she also adds small chili peppers! The bacon is sometimes replaced by ground pork, but there's always that pig-tastic element to it.

I too am married to a Southern Man. I found that "True Southerners" do not add sugar or salt to the water when boiling fresh corn on the cob, they add about a tablespoon of Dark Karo Syrup! Yummy Sweetness and brilliant color! I am a convert to this method!

I discovered this trick last summer. Peel off outer husks, wrap ear in paper towel and microwave for about 40 seconds. Handle VERY carefully - will be super hot. Peel back husks and the silk comes off all in a clump. Then brush with melted butter and add S&P and devour. This is sometimes my whole dinner!.

Super good.

Try this method. It hasn't been presented above and it is the recipe of a famous French Canadian cook of the genre of Julia Child. Use very fresh, sweet corn, husk and place in cold water with some sugar - squeeze the juice of 1/2 a lemon, then throw it in the water. Add a tray of ice cubes and cover. Bring to a boil covered, then removed lid and turn the heat off. The corn will be crisp and flavourful. It can be eaten as is, but I prefer to butter, S & P it before eating. I also like to put the cobs on some paper towel to absorb any water. I would love to hear any feed back if someone tries this method.

I love corn without any fixings -- dunked in plain, boiling water for a couple of minutes, as well as raw.

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