tildebrennen/textfiles/corn.txt

> I associate it most strongy with grilling it in the husk in
> several backyards on the Colorado western slope one summer.

I spent most of my early life in Nebraska and Kansas, and so for
me the best experience of the stuff has always been summer
harvests of sweetcorn, ideally prepared shortly after picking by
shucking, washing the silks off in cold water, & boiling for
7-10 minutes in a big pot.  Serve with butter and salt (butter
usually to be applied by rolling the ear of corn lengthwise on
the stick, though I had an uncle who preferred to apply butter
to bread first and then roll the corn on the bread).  I remember
a lot of meals consisting of essentially nothing but sweetcorn,
half a dozen ears or so to a person.

I suppose this wasn't super healthy, but there's nothing quite
like the texture and flavor of really fresh corn on the cob, and
very little that can be done to genuinely improve upon it.  Then
too, I live in front range Colorado now, and have spent time on
the western slope.  It always seems to me that the local
sweetcorn chauvinism is innocent enough, but a little
inexperienced.  By the time it hits grocery stores and farm
stands, it's usually tough as nails.

I guess what I'm really saying is:  If you live in a climate
that supports it, plant sweetcorn.  There's no substitute for
fresh.  I am often sad that Colorado doesn't seem to be a place
where I'm capable of growing decent corn (see also: tomatoes,
carrots which don't taste like dirt, basically anything that
isn't some kind of kale).

*

Not that grilling it in the husk is bad.  Nice change of pace.
Great for camping.

I had this really bad experience one time at a party where I got
yelled at by the older, richer, much more employed host for
putting out a flaming corn cob in his new swimming pool.  The
less said about that, the better, probably.  (What can I say; I
was like 22 and probably kind of drunk.  It was humiliating.)

*

We used to grow a _lot_ of corn, by garden plot standards, and
we'd usually have more than we could realistically eat while
fresh.  My parents often still do.  My mom's canned it before,
but the handiest way to preserve it seems to be to boil as usual
and then cut off in strips and freeze in plastic bags.  Assuming
you've got the freezer space, this works out great for soups,
casseroles, pizza, you name it.

They also make a lot of creamed corn.  It's really good, and
I'll have to see if I can get the recipe, though I'll bet it's
just a variation of something they got from Alton Brown.  They
are way into Alton Brown.

-- bpb