Recipe

Old-fashioned Southern Creamed Corn

Photo by Kayb

This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Corn off the Cob
Chef
Kayb's Notes: This is the creamed corn I grew up eating as a child in the South, and it's still the creamed corn I crave and cook often. It works best with a white corn (my father always swore by Silver...
This is the creamed corn I grew up eating as a child in the South, and it's still the creamed corn I crave and cook often. It works best with a white corn (my father always swore by Silver Queen corn and would plant no other), and it MUST be the very freshest corn possible -- picked the day it's cooked, if that is at all possible. (I well remember being dispatched to the garden when Mama was starting dinner with the assignment of picking "a mess" of corn, a "mess" being enough to feed however many people were eating.) You can do it with yellow corn or a vareigated corn, although it seems to me the skin of the kernels is a little more tough than the white. Warning -- accompanied by fried okra and sliced tomatos and gallons of iced tea, this has been known to cause complete Sunday afternoon torpor, so don't prepare it unless you're ready to sit around and read or watch baseball for a few hours afterward! (Photo courtesy Genetic Seed & Chemical)

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6 ears ultra-fresh white corn, shucked and silked Ask a question about this ingredient

1/2 cup half and half or heavy cream Ask a question about this ingredient

Working over a big, shallow bowl with your sharpest knife, cut just the very tips off the corn kernels. Go all the way around the cob. Then, using the back side of your knife, held crosswise at a right angle to the cob, scrape the milk and fiber out of the remainder of the kernels. It'll take a fair amount of pressure; don't be afraid to use elbow grease in this step! Repeat for all the ears.
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Melt the butter over medium high heat in a large skillet. Mama always used a cast iron one, but I tend to use my 12-inch Calphalon non-stick. When it stops foaming, add the corn and reduce the heat to medium.
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Stir with a wooden spoon until the corn soaks up all the butter and starts to look a little translucent, maybe three to four minutes. Add the cream, and reduce heat to low.
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Cook, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching, until all the cream is reduced/absorbed/has gone away. Cover and keep warm until ready to serve.
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