For the freshest, most delicious corn on the cob, start your water to boiling before you go out to pick your corn.
It’s corn season, and Bulletin readers have a range of favorite ways to cook corn – and that’s Loretta Smith’s way, which she takes from her father, the late Raymond Lilly.
Put your just-picked, just-shucked corn right into the boiling water, and “hence the freshest corn ever. He told me this after I was married and bought some from the store that didn't compare to his. If there's a garden in heaven, I'm sure he's there,” she said.
Here are a variety of tried-and-trued ways local families cook their fresh summer corn:
“Fresh corn doesn’t need much cooking,” said Gael Chaney, who has cooked corn many different ways. That includes steaming, such as in a shallow electric fry pan topped with the lid, temperature set to simmer.
Nancy Philpott’s tried-and-true method is boiling for 7 minutes in unsalted water.
Emily Burris boils several cobs in five cups of water with one cup milk and a stick of butter.
Smith said the test of corn that has finished cooking is that a pierced corn kernel runs with clear liquid. If it’s not finished cooking, a pierced kernel yields a whitish liquid that is known as “milk.”
Microwaved
Pam Randall, Jeffrey Belcher and Donna Prillaman microwave ears of corn. Leave them in the husk, cut off the bottom and microwave for 3 or 4 minutes for one or two ears. The husk and most silks slide off easily.
Sometimes Hank Martin microwaves it in the husk, and other times he shucks the corn, puts butter, salt and pepper on it, and wraps it in clear wrap to microwave.
Tangie Fisher Duncan goes through a few more steps to microwave corn: Soak in the husk. Place in a glass dish with 2 inches of water and microwave for 15 to 20 minutes. Sharon McDonald-Peters does the same, but microwaving on high for 7 minutes.
Beth Deatherage wraps corn in a wet paper towel before microwaving. Brenda Williams does the same, with 1 minute for each ear of corn and 1 more minute “for the microwave” regardless of how many ears.
Creamed or fried
Rhonda Mills cooks creamed corn with the recipe used by her mother, Selma Sater, and late grandmothers Evelyn Conway Long and Lena Martin Mills: Cut the kernels off 12 cobs of corn. Put 2 or 3 tablespoons of self-rising flour with ½ cup water in a jar and shake it to mix. Put ¾ stick of butter, or ¼ cup bacon grease, with a cup of water over a stovetop on medium heat. Add the corn with salt and pepper and let cook for about two hours, adding more flour and water as needed. Keep it creamy.
Cathie Carter and Barbara Lohr recommend fried corn. A recipe for that is similar to the one Mills uses, but cooked for only 12 to 15 minutes.
Sherry Jones McCoy bakes buttered, seasoned corn in the oven for about 20 minutes. It's corn season, and local residents are sharing the many and varied ways they cook this summer favorite.
Cecil Robbins sautées corn kernels in extra-virgin olive oil, and once they are cooked, he adds cream and fresh thyme. Add a little butter in the end. It’s “okay if it gets a crust on the bottom. More flavor,” he said.
In the oven
Sherry Jones McCoy bakes corn: Heat oven to 400 degrees. Shuck corn and break corn cobs in two. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with Longhorn Grill Seasoning. Roast in the oven uncovered, turning once. Can also use frozen ears, if you increase cooking time to 35 minutes; and this recipe is good on the grill, too.
Tom Berry bakes corn in the oven either in the husk or wrapped in aluminum foil.
Pam Brinegar grills corn in the husk for about 20 minutes, then leaves cooked corn sitting for another 15 minutes, still in husks, covered by a towel. It's corn season, and local residents are sharing the many and varied ways they cook this summer favorite.
Roslyn Simmons grills corn with the husk off for about 20 minutes (more or less, depending on how hot the grill is). Melody Hubbard Reynolds does the same, but with butter and seasonings added first.
Tangie Fisher Duncan’s family soaks the corn with husk on for about 15 minutes in cold water. Then they pull the husk down about three-quarters to grill the corn – after slathering the corn with butter and seasoning with salt, pepper and a sprinkle of garlic powder, or sometimes, cayenne pepper. It cooks for 15 to 20 minutes, rotated several times.
Rives Coleman also recommends soaking corn still in the husk for 25 minutes before grilling it for 18.
Pam Brinegar cooks corn (still in the husk) on a closed grill for 20 minutes, turning every 5 minutes. Then the corn is put in a clean bucket to sit for 15 minutes, covered with a towel to keep warm.
Jennifer Bowles puts butter, salt and pepper on corn before wrapping it in aluminum foil to grill.
Kaye Pacifico likes to grill corn with the husk on, because it “comes off wonderfully” once the corn is cooked.
“Yummy,” said Pam Brinegar, of corn grilled in its husks. “It’s the best,” said Jeff Adam. Claudia Vasquez is another fan of grilled corn.
Holly Kozelsky is a writer for the Martinsville Bulletin; contact her at 276-638-8801 ext. 243.
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July 18, 2020 at 09:34PM
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WATCH NOW: How do you cook your corn? Let us count the ways. - Martinsville Bulletin
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