Sweet Corn drowning in Milk, Sugar & Butter
This recipe is not for the faint of heart, but it's absolutely delicious and you owe it to yourself to try it just once!
"A light wind swept over the corn, and all nature laughed in the sunshine." - Anne Bronte
As a young 60’s flower child, some of my best memories were of Sunday suppers, enough that there is one entire chapter of my book devoted to them! Sunday was when my mother would pull out all of the stops..during the winter months dinner would be a roast leg of lamb or rib roast, but in the summer it was always her wonderful onion burgers, huge hot dogs and bratwurst . These were accompanied by several green salads, a huge bowl of homemade german potato salad and steaming platters of buttered sweet corn.
I grew up in Pepper Pike Ohio, which at that time was still full of dusty dirt and brick roads. Farms and farm stands were everywhere. Sweet corn appeared every August on every corner, and of course we tried them all. My father had his favorite stand and it was from a farm on the corner of Emery and Brainard Rds. I still remember it, with its gorgeous old red barn and huge thresher tables piled high with freshly picked sweet corn. Back then we weren’t even thinking about GMO’s and herbicides and the flavor of this corn reflected that. I could never resist grabbing one ear for me to snack on raw and one for my beloved cat Gigi, who could strip an ear of raw corn clean in less than ten minutes with absolute precision!
Mom would set her huge aluminum pot full of water to boiling on the stove and Dad and I would jump in the car, turn on my favorite radio station, WIXY 1260 and make the 15 minute drive to the farm.
As soon as dad had chosen the perfect ears, we’d jump back into the car and I’d start shucking them, laughing as the corn silk flew everywhere around us. As soon as we got home, I’d run through the house into the kitchen and hand my mom the corn. Into the steaming pot it would go with a little bit of milk and sugar. 10 minutes later we’d be sitting around the table covered in butter up to our elbows, eating this ambrosial treat.
50 years later sweet corn has changed so much. These days, too much of our corn is bio-engineered and grown with glysophate. Those wonderful family farms of my past wouldn’t recognize it. It pays to ask though…here in Ohio we’ve got some great growers like Farmer Lee Jones of The Chefs Garden in Huron whose mission is an absolute commitment to regenerative agricultural practices, sustainability and of course, great flavor and maximum nutrition. A trip to his farmers market is a complete joy and his book , The Chefs Garden, completely changed the way that I grow, look at and prepare vegetables. A trip to his farmers market will change your palate for even the most common of vegetables in ways you’ve never thought possible.
It’s hard to find corn in grocery stores that isn’t bio-engineered, let alone organic and I have made it one of my missions in life to ask for it. Whole Foods, even with all of the healthy hype does not source it often but here in Cleveland , I was pleasantly surprised that Heinen’s does. Many of our farmers markets do too. I wouldn’t suggest trying the recipe below with anything less because you CAN truly taste the difference.
This recipe that I’m about to share with you made my heart sing. I found it online in several places and iterations and knew immediately that my Sunday’s weren’t going to be complete until I tried it. It is absolutely delicious and there is nothing healthy about it. The aroma while you are cooking it is absolutely what you remember from being a child. Jim and I each ate three ears of it and washed that down with fresh watermelon, and some yummy freshly smoked scallops with homemade remulade sauce. Then we topped that off with root beer floats. It was a perfect Sunday supper.
Put on this wonderful old 60’s tune while you’re cooking…it’s just the right vibe for this kind of meal.
This is a really easy recipe with several names. I like mine, because drowning in butter, milk and sugar is accurate. Don’t skip the garlic or chives. They lend a surprisingly good flavor to this dish.
Sweet Corn drowning in Milk, Sugar & Butter
Grab your favorite corn pot and add 4 cups of filtered water, 4 cloves of garlic halved, 1 and a half teaspoons of salt and the same of cracked pepper and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.
Now for the fun part. Stir in two cups of whole milk. Don’t skimp, go for the real stuff, the organic whole milk that has all of the cream on top. Then add a half a cup of organic unsalted butter and a half a cup of brown sugar. If you are avoiding sugar, brown sugar Swerve works really well too. Then add about a cup of chopped fresh chives. Bring it all back to a boil and add the corn. Reduce the heat and simmer covered for about ten minutes, top it with more fresh chives and serve immediately.
Whatever you do, don’t throw out the cooking liquid. It freezes beautifully and is the perfect base for any kind of cream soup, but especially a chowder or as a broth ( add some white wine!) for steaming some fresh mussels, clams and chorizo. I used it this week to make a ramp and stinging nettle bisque. I added a quart of frozen chicken broth that I’d made last week, and a quart of frozen ramps and stinging nettles. Served with some parmesan and a baguette, it was perfect.
I know that one look at all of that melted butter and you might resist. I hope that you don’t. You don’t need to add any butter to this corn…it absorbs more than enough and its present from the first bite. The chives are a delightful addition. The fragrance is pure throwback 1967’s summer and don’t we all need that right about now? I hope that this becomes a recipe that you rely on over and over again. Make it your own, and let me know what you do with it!
Thymeless Quotes:
"I believe in the forest, and in the meadow, and in the night in which the corn grows." - Henry David Thoreau
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Beth, I will be visiting my sister in Cleveland the weekend of 8/14. I would love to connect. Deb