Cook corn on the cob and you’ve got a uniquely summer time treat. Fresh corn from the field brushed with melted butter is a strong child-food memory for me, and can be one for your children as well. If you’re lucky enough to get some fresh corn on the cob, how to cook it will be the difference between sweet success and starchy mess.
Don’t ever refrigerate corn on the cob. Under cold temperatures, sugar in the corn will turn to starches, robbing you of the sweet flavor of fresh corn on the cob. You may think that your corn is still fresh because it’s only been in the refrigerator for 24 hours, but this is enough time to make a cob from the field taste two weeks old.
Steaming is always better than boiling. If you submerge corn on the cob into a big pot of boiling water, you’ll have water that tastes like corn and corn that tastes like water. Rather than direct contact with the hot liquid where your fresh corn on the cob can lose flavor, add only a small amount of liquid to your stock pot. With a steamer basket or round wire rack, be sure the corn is suspended ABOVE the simmering liquid. To assure the steam cooks evenly, I often stand the ears of corn on end.
Your steamed corn on the cob is finished when it squirts. After a few minutes in the steam bath, I check for doneness by trying to burst one of the kernels on the corn. If the outer skin on the kernel is soft enough, and the inside cooked properly, it will burst with slight pressure from a finger.
This is my favorite way to approach corn on the cob and know how to cook it right. While this is not the only way, I feel it’s easier than cooking the corn while still in the husks, or wasting a whole bunch of tin foil wrapping each ear. If you want to cook corn on the cob and retain all the flavor and nutrients, a steaming method is the way to cook it right.
Do you cook your corn with the husks still on? Do you prefer to clean and steam the corn like me? Let’s see which way is more popular by leaving a comment below:
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Thanks for the input, Rational Foodie.
I was taught the opposite in culinary school, but I respect your source.
Don't confuse a guy in a chef coat with a food scientist...refrigeration is a critical aspect of maintaining freshness. (How many chemical reactions happen _faster_ at cold temperatures??) This is from an Alabama A&M course publication, "Commercial Sweet Corn Handling":
Storage Temperature Requirements
Sugar and other flavor components of sweet
corn decrease rapidly at room temperature. To prevent these changes and the loss of moisture from
kernels through the husk, storage in cool, moist
conditions is required. Loss of sugar is about four
times as rapid at 50 degrees F than at 32 degrees F.
In a single day, about 60 percent of the sugar may
be converted to starch at 50 degrees F, whereas
only 6 percent is converted at 32 degrees F.
Although the conversion of sugar to starch is
slower with shrunken-2 sweet corn than standard
and sugar-enhanced varieties, cold storage at 32
degrees to 35 degrees F and high humidity (95 to
100 percent) are required to maintain a high sugar
content for extended periods of time.
Source: http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0584/ANR-0584.pdf
We go family camping a lot and whenever corn is in season we include it in our campfire meals - wrap the shuck-on corn in foil and simply drop it in the coals around the fire and turn it every now and then. Generally once it gets to steaming so you can smell the corn, it's pretty much done cooking. You can even scrape some coals on top of it (kinda like you'd do a campfire baked potato) to speed the process up. In fact, you can skip foil if needed - you just have to be a bit more careful about how long you leave it in the coals.
This summer I tried a method recommended by my sister. I used to shuck the corn, wrap in aluminum foil with a dab of butter, and grill it. Sis recommended that I not even de-silk, but just leave it alone and pop it on the grill. I tried it and think it may be the best corn I've eaten. The silk BURNS OFF on the grill - and the husk keeps the corn moist. I don't even soak it first - just fresh from the field -- on the grilll. Simple and tasty!
Well said! "If your corn requires flavor enhancement, you really need to find a new market"
The best thing you can do to a farm ingredient is NOT slather it in fat.
(broccoli in cheese sauce, corn drenched in butter).
I peel most of the husk off leaving just enough leaves (two or three to be able to see the kernels. Then, I steam it as you do, just long enough to release the liquid in the kernels. I use no butter or any other ingredients since I savor the pure essence of the corn itself. If your corn requires flavor enhancement, you really need to find a new market.
They say you can never go back again.
Great childhood memory. Thanks for sharing.
I grew up in the 60s in Lancaster, PA where corn was a major cash crop. There was almost no market for corn in the grocery stores because between the store and your home there was at least one or two farm stands offering yet-to-be-picked corn. You'd drive up and ask for however many ears you wanted and some youngster would be sent scurrying into the field to pick the choicest ears for you. We'd take them home, shuck them and my mom would steam them and we'd be eating them less than an hour after they were picked.
Also, most farms had a corner of a field with a covered picnic area complete with a big fireplace for cooking. When you rented this area you paid by the head and the price included all the corn you cared to pick, cook and consume on the spot. The company picnics were usually held here - I'm sure there was other food served but I only remember the corn, steamed in the shucks between layers of wet burlap over the fire. There was a pot of butter on a swingarm, melted by the fire. You'd grab a hot ear, pull back the shuck to form a handle, dunk your corn in the butter, shake on some butter and munch like you were in Heaven.
Corn that fresh can be intensely sweet - sweet like an apple, and maybe even a candy apple - at least that's the impression I had as a youngster. And besides the sweet, there was simply the rich "corn" flavor which really came through. We simply never ate day-old corn because it wasn't nearly as sweet or tasty - if we had leftovers it was fed to our cats, who ate it directly from the cobs (and the dogs often then consumed the cobs - especially if you dribbled them with a bit of butter or animal fat - kept 'em regular, that's for sure).
Needless to say, I've been spoiled for corn. Even getting it at our farmer's markets can't come close to the fresh stuff I had as a munchkin.
Thanks Todd for all your great advice. I'm a Cornhusker and the way I like to cook corn on the cob is on the grill. I remove the husk and silk, brush it lightly with olive oil and lay it naked on the hot grill, turning a quarter turn each time the grill side of the corn begins to turn slightly brown. The corn turns out super sweet and moist.
I soak the corn in the husks for 30-40 minutes and them microwave them. About 4 minutes per ear turns out the perfect corn.
Use to steam the corn until I worked out the microwave method.
I would follow Bill's method, take the left over corn on the cob, strip it off, put the cob back in the liquid for about 10 minutes, then restrip the cob to get the small corn kernels left, reduce the stock to make corn chowder. I like the milk part because now you have corn flavored milk to proceed with the corn/crap chowder.
Well, I used to always boil my corn on the cob, either that or grill it in the husks, but from here on out, I will steam the cobs instead of boiling them!
I boil some water put in the corn with a little sugar and when it returns to boil, wait three minutes then its done. Quick corn and it always tastes great, oh use fresh picked corn too.
Then add lots of butter and salt and pepper! Go to town!
Ignoring the fact that some people prefer raw corn on the cob, I microwave in the husks also. A good sign as to when they are cooked is when you can smell the corn in the air. My older low power microwave takes four minutes - flip and rotate after the first two. Let rest a bit to keep from burning your fingers. The husks will cool quickly as they are peeled away and can be used as a "handle" while peeling the rest. Removing the silk is much easier after the corn has been cooked.
As for the sugar to starch conversion, I've always been told that refrigeration slows the process. Looks like I have some research to do.
You've said the magic word, Bill. "It depends on how I'm cooking that day".
You bring up a great point that I didn't cover. Perhaps if you're serving corn with a Southwestern or Mexican meal you'd want it more caramelized and would grill it for that result.
If you were doing an New England seafood boil or fish fry, steaming would be more appropriate for the meal.
If you were making a corn and crab chowder, simmering the corn in milk would be the best method. Then, you could use the corn-macerated milk in the soup!
"It depends on how I'm cooking that day" is brilliant!
It depends on how I'm cooking that day...if I'm just grilling...then I will de-silk it and leave the husk on...then soak the corn in cold water for about 30 mins...this is just my method...then I will use some of the herb butter that I made...whatever I had put together ...shake a bit of paprika and a bit of cayenne pepper...put the husk back up and then on the grill...turning until the kernels are ready to pop the juice...they come out tender...with just a hint of heat with that buttery flavor...Now if I'm on the BBQ...that's an entirely different story...Thanks Todd...!!!
Thanks! I didn't know about the cold turning sugars to starches.
Well, I would eat my corn raw (and often do) except that I like to have it hot enough so that butter will melt into it. So I've been zapping an ear of corn in the microwave for 10 seconds or so - turns out pretty good. However, I can see that steaming would be much preferable and probably take hardly any more time.
Trish -
I love the idea of steaming in milk to add extra flavor. Where can we go from there? How about adding some cayenne or jalapenos to the milk and give the corn an infused spice?
How would coconut milk steamed corn taste? I wonder.
Thanks for giving ME the inspiration today.
Looking forward to trying the steaming method you showed us. I have been really happy with boiling corn in small amount of water, with milk added. The milk foams up over the corn, and adds to the sweet flavor.
I prefer to steam it with the husk off. I don't really have a reason why I do it though.
P.S. The best popcorn comes from a Whirley Pop popcorn maker. It's a stovetop pot with a rotating mechanism attached to a crank. It rotates the popcorn kernels evenly. A little coconut oil and seasoning in combination with this pot makes awesome popcorn! Best part, the machine is cheap, better than those electronic gadgets.
I learned something about corn, the fridge thing, thanks! I prefer to cook the corn shucked, in water. Shucking corn is the perfect job for kids while mom is in the kitchen!
I always say "if it's good to YOU....then, it's good". I mean that nobody should ever tell you what you like, but do you cook in the microwave for convenience? Have you ever steamed corn AND microwaved it to compare the best flavor? The microwave has a tendency to make starches rubbery. Think about putting a piece of bread in the micro-zapper. It turns to rubber.
I don't want to sound like snotty chef, but the microwave is for heating up water and making popcorn. That's about it. Actually, popcorn is better in a pot with hot oil.
Try steaming your corn and compare. You may eventually prefer microwaved corn, but since this is a cooking methods course, I thought I'd suggest another way.
Thanks for the comment.
I love to cook my corn in the microwave with the husks on. 3 minutes per corm cob. It steams itself in its husk.