Corn

[MatthewB]

I can't remember where I came across a tip to soak sweet corn in milk before grilling. But it seems to work well.

So, questions . . .

Do you soak sweet corn in milk? If so, what do you think about it?

What is it about milk that brings out the sweetness in corn?

[awbrig]

Never heard of this...but if it works Ill try it this summer...

So do you grill your corn with the husks on? Is the milk able to get inside the husks when you are soaking them?

Edited June 2, 2003 by awbrig (log)

[MatthewB]

Never heard of this...but if it works Ill try it this summer...

I did it last night because it obviously was not local & in-season corn.

The SO--a former farmgirl who sold & shucked corn at the farmer's market--thought there was a noticable improvement. (But she tends to humor me.)

[stagis]

Corn is to be purchased from a farmstand. The aforesaid farmstand must have its parking lot hacked out of a cornfield. At minimum, you should be able to see the corn from the stand.

Farmington, CT. The cornstand (excuse me: the farmstand) of choice is the one on the Farmington Flats at the Y intersection. Period. Failing that, Krell Farms up on Unionville Avenue - they buy their corn from the stand down on the flats.

Corn should be boiled. 6 minutes after putting into boiling water, take it out. Serve with salt. If it needs milk or butter to taste good, don't invite me.

Grilled corn has its merits. When I've done that, I soak it in water for a while, peel back the husks, strip out the silk, salt and butter 'em (ignore the previous paragraph - grilled corn is an aberration), put the husks back on, maybe tied with a piece of husk and cook.

When I've grilled corn with the Scouts, none of the above means anything. Toss the unmodified cobs directly onto coals. Turn several times and eat. The silk will burn out.

When corn's in season, I buy it 2-3 times a week, 2 dozen at a time. Whatever's not eaten gets cut off the cob and frozen.

[joler]

prepare grilled corn as noted above only instead of butter and salt, wrap each ear in a slice of bacon and sprinkle with chili powder. yum.

[MatthewB]

I'm down with ya, stagis & joler.

I nearly always cook in-season. However, last night I wanted grilled corn. Obviously, out of season & picked up at the supermarket. That's why I used the milk soak.

Blasphemy? Perhaps. Ill-conceived? Probably.

But given my recklessness, what is it about a milk soak that brings out the sweetness when you're cooking sweet corn out of season?

[fresco]

MatthewB,

Although corn is not specifically addressed, it would seem from this excerpt from a piece in the Boston Globe magazine that milk has tenderizing properties:

``Milk is a great tenderizer,'' says Shirley Corriher, author of CookWise (William Morrow), which explains the science and chemistry of food. Italian cooks discovered this when they first braised pork in milk. As the milk simmers, it coagulates, producing funny-looking curds, but after straining and whisking, it becomes a smooth, mildly sweet sauce that doesn't seem at all related to a glass of milk.

Root vegetables also benefit from some milk in the cooking water. Potatoes - particularly the yellow varieties, which are creamy to begin with - turn dreamy. Turnips lose their edge. Milk adds sweetness to cakes, gives bread a nice brown color and moist crumb, and provides a little pouf to a cookie dough.

Corriher says that milk works to tenderize meat or make foods more palatable because it contains acid, sugar, and protein. Sugar helps the browning process, acid breaks down fibers in meat, and these chemical changes seem to smooth out flavors.

[MatthewB]

Thanks, fresco! My previous post was a bit ill-timed.

Now I wonder if McGee has anything to say . . .

Edit: grammar

Edited June 2, 2003 by MatthewB (log)

[MatthewB]

I took a look at McGee & Corriher last night.

Found nothing that directly addresses corn & milk in McGee.

However, Corriher has a bit of interesting information in Cookwise . . .

For her, the best way to do sweet corn is to bring a pot of water to a boil, go pick the corn, & run back to kitchen while shucking the corn.

If this is not possible, she recommends boiling six ears adding only 1/3 cup of honey to the water.

Interesting. (To me, at least. )

[MatthewB]

So do you grill your corn with the husks on? Is the milk able to get inside the husks when you are soaking them?

Grilled the corn without the husks.

Had about medium heat on the grill--"five one thousand" count with hand 5 inches above grill.

Moved the corn regularly to avoid burning.

(awbrig, note the honey tip above, too.)

Edit: If you wanted to grill with the husks on, I bet you could pull the husks back & then soak in the milk. Remove the corn to grill & pull the husks back over the corn. I'll have to try that.

Edited June 3, 2003 by MatthewB (log)

[joler]

A blonde heard that milk baths would make her beautiful. She left

a note for her milkman to leave 15 gallons of milk.

When the milkman read the note, he felt there must be a mistake. He

thought she probably meant 1.5 gallons so he knocked on the door to

clarify the point.

The blonde came to the door and the milkman said, "I found your note to

leave 15 gallons of milk. Did you mean 1.5 gallons?"

The blonde said, "I want 15 gallons. I'm going to fill my bathtub up

with milk and take a milk bath."

The milkman asked, "Do you want it Pasteurized?" The blonde said, "No,

just up to my boobs; I can splash it in my eyes."

[Hopleaf]

That was corny, but very funny.

[=Mark]

Corn should be boiled.  6 minutes after putting into boiling water, take it out.  Serve with salt.  If it needs milk or butter to taste good, don't invite me.

I think 6 minutes in boiling water is overkill for the current supersweet varieties. The stuff really only needs to be heated, I do mine for one minute or so and it's fine.

I just read in today's paper that due to the cool and wet spring that planting of many warm weather veggies has been delayed, meaning the local sweet corn crop will be late also.

[fifi]

Many years ago, my mother would grow corn up at our country place. It went from the stalk to the pot. I recall her trying the boil-in-milk routine side by side with just boiling. I don't recall that it was any great shakes or it would have become the standard technique when the corn was ready. We only did it that one time.

But then, I am a heretic. I don't really like our "sweet" corn. I have admitted this on other threads. Give me the good old field corn anytime, like they serve on the street in Mexico. It tastes like CORN and has a nice chew as well. It is just hard as hell to find with our "northern obsession" with sweet corn. I have my eye on some corn fields that I intend to poach in the wee hours of some morning.