Corn on the cob is a great summertime favorite, and right now, it seems to be on sale in all of the stores, at least here in the South where we live. Since there is only Bobby and I , and he doesn't eat much fresh corn; I usually only buy an ear or two for myself now and then. One of the best ways that I have seen of cooking the corn is this microwave methed. It has been on Youtube for a while; so some of you may have seen it already; but just in case someone hasn't see this before , here is a slick trick for cooking and husking the corn.
My family likes corn on the cob also, my mom made some fried corn last week that was so good. I had not had any in a long time as my family will not eat corn any other way than on the cob.
Last week it was $.16/cob at Walmart, now it's $.11/cob. I bought some yesterday, and I want to grill it, then make corn chowder. I do use the microwave method, saw it on Facebook, tried it, and liked it, so decided to stick with it. I have a corn zipper to remove the kernels from the cob, since I'll be making chowder with them, instead of eating them right off the cob.
I like corn on the cob pretty much any way you might want to prepare it but, when I lived in the UP of Michigan, the nearby town of Marinette, Wisconsin, had a harvest festival each year in which the downtown businesses would roast corn, like on a barbecue that was placed on the sidewalk, up against the buildings, offering it for free. No one ever had any other kind of food, just roast corn, and it was great.
One of my favorites is boiled corn. I could finish 2 in one sitting. But lately, I am enjoying boiled corn that I take off from the cob then put butter and microwave for a minute. In front of the tv, I would be holding that buttered corn kernels with a spoon. Corn is not expensive here so we can regularly buy although I gain weight that's why I also need to control it. We have 2 kinds of corn here - the white corn that is native and the yellow which we call sweet corn. The white is more enjoyable to eat because the kernels are smaller and sweeter. When we go on vacation trips, there are highways here where the roadside vendors sell boiled corn. They are easy to spot, all you would look for is the big cauldron sitting on rocks that are improvised for a stove where under is a burning firewood. Corn is sold for 25 cents apiece.
I grew up on a farm. Every year, we had a large garden that include sweet corn for our own use, but every few years dad would grow what was known as cow corn. When he grew cow corn, he'd plant three or four 40-acre fields in cow corn. I don't know what the actual species of corn it was, but cow corn was intended to be used as silage, and used for cattle feed. I wouldn't say it was white exactly, but it was much whiter than sweet corn. Cow corn was a cash crop. I think he told me once that planting too much of his fields in sweet corn, as a cash crop, was too much of a risk because too many things could go wrong. Anyhow, cow corn was corn and, as such, it was fit for human consumption, and we often ate it. While pretty much everyone else preferred sweet corn, I liked the cow corn better.
I use to love to eat corn on the cob. The flavor of it is like no other corn you can eat, its that fresh. But that was in the past, my family have a digestive disorder that we refer to as the family curse. One of the things we are told to avoid in our diet because it can be hard on the digestion is corn, so no more corn on the cob for me. But thank you for reminding me of a great food that I could have in the past.
I got some the other day, but still haven't done anything with it. The plan was to grill it, but I don't feel like grilling, since it's really hot outside this week, so I'm going to look for recipes to roast it in the oven, then remove it from the cobs and then finally make the corn chowder I've been craving. Ken, I've had that cow corn, bought it years ago at a farm stand, and we all loved it. It was a lot less expensive than the sweet corn, so we got a bunch of it and used it for many different dishes.
Wow, I never ever thought I would find another person who understands my love for boiled corn. The only difference between you and I is that whenever my wife boils corn, I can't refrain myself from eating at least 4 of them in one sitting! Of course, my wife always makes a fuss out of this, saying that I never leave some for her, but she should be the one purchasing more! I mean, she knows that I have a destructive appetite!
I forgot to mention, the reason that I added that video is not just to show cooking corn in the microwave (we can all figure that part out) ; but it shows is a great way to get the corn husks off without all of that peeling and there is no cornsilk left on the ears either. You can't tell that just by looking at the picture; but the video explains the whole method of cooking the corn with the husks on and then just cutting off the ends and squeezing out the ears of corn. If you missed watching this before, check it out. It is the only way I do corn now because it tastes so good and is SO easy to do.
Here's another cute idea of how to oven roast corn on the cob, and it shows how to pull down the husks, so they can be used as a handle, because I think most of us have burned our hands eating corn on the cob at one point or another. I'm still looking for one that has some nice spices rubbed on, because that's how I want mine to be for the corn chowder, sort of like you get on the streets and markets in Mexico.
Sometimes when the corn starts getting ripe we'll pick an ear and eat it right in the garden. Sweet corn doesn't have to be cooked to be good. There are so many varieties of corn these days, and they are really sweet. Our favorite the past few years is " HONEY SELECT". It's what they call a triple sweet variety.
I don't think I've ever seen Honey Select, but I'll keep my eyes open for it. I've never had corn raw, but now I'm curious. I found a couple of recipes for the roasted Mexican corn, but I don't have the cheese the other one calls for, so here's the one I'll probably end up using. http://mexican.food.com/recipe/authentic-mexican-roasted-corn-on-the-cob-206134
There is another way of cooking for corn that I love very much. When we have boiled beef soup dish, we include corn on the cob - broken in 2 or 3 pieces. Instead of rice, that corn on the cob in the soup dish will be the staple. The dip we use is fish sauce with drops of lemon. That boiled beef soup dish is easy to make, just boil a kilo of beef and that's it. So simple but I really love it especially when there is white corn on the cob. But then again, may I warn myself that corn can make me gain weight so easily.