Recently in Corn Category

This is a recipe from my Aunt Ethel. The best corn dish ever.

2 quarts fresh creamed corn (if you don't have fresh corn in your freezer you can use frozen corn, the yellow and white or shoepeg is best)
3 eggs
1/2 cup flour
2 c. milk
2 tbsp sugar
1 stick butter, melted
Salt and pepper

Beat eggs. Add milk. Mix well. Set aside.

Mix other ingredients well. Add the egg/milk mixture to it. Mix well.

Pour into a butter dish.

Bake at 375 until set and firm.

1 large bag frozen corn
8 oz cream cheese
1 stick butter
salt and pepper to taste

Melt cream cheese and margarine in microwave. Spray crockpot with vegetable spray. Put melted cream cheese and butter in crockpot. Add corn, salt and pepper. Cook in crockpot for two hours on low.

Happy cooking. And it is delicious.

There have been a few comments in the past that have cast a pale light on one of the best southern delicacies to be found. I will have you to know we have a secret and only those truly in touch with the way things are done in a southern kitchen knows that secret. Well more people know it now since those Food TV celebrities chefs cooks have started to let the secret out of the bag. Damn them all! Their grandmother's should haunt them all the days of the rest of their lives for that folly! It was our secret, it is what separated us from the pretenders and the wannabees!

With that said I am going to teach you the proper and delicious way to prepare grits. Real grits. Not hominy. Not cream of wheat, Steven!

To those who have never had a real bowl of properly cooked grits stop turning your nose up as if I have asked you to eat brussel sprouts batter fried and buttered with shit. If you follow this plan of action you will have one of the best breakfast or supper items known to mankind.

At the grocery store, on the cereal aisle, look for Jim Dandy Quick Grits or Quaker Grits. I prefer Jim Dandy but Quaker will do. Buy the smallest amount, usually a one pound bag or canister. Once you have discovered the beauty of this simple food you can return and stock your larder with the big five pound bag. They will not go to waste. Store them as you would flour or sugar in an air tight container. By God you better not buy those damned disgusting INSTANT grits. Ackkk!!

For a serving of grits you are supposed to use 1/3 cup uncooked grits for every person you are feeding. Let me warn you this is a big serving. I suggest 1/3 cup uncooked for an adult and 1/3 cup uncooked per two children with a good appetite.

There are generally four of us here for breakfast on a daily basis. J. is only here on weekends and has a small appetite. I cook using 1 cup of the uncooked grits.

The liquid is 1 1/3 cup of liquid to every 1/3 cup of uncooked grits.

For my family that is 1 cup uncooked grits and 4 cups of liquid.

Disregard the package instructions that says to use water. This is where the knowledge of a southern kitchen comes in to play. Use milk. The lactic acid in the milk helps to soften and plump the grits and makes a very creamy end product.

Into a pot:

1 cup of grits
1 cup of water
3 cups of milk
1 - 2 tsp salt

Bring to a slow boil, stir so they won't stick to the bottom of the pot. A scorched serving of grits is disgusting and the stench is offensive to the nose. Turn the heat down low to simmer. Cover and cook slowly for about 20 - 25 minutes, stirring occassionally. (Believe me there are no 'quick' grits.) Even at a low heat they can stick. Some cooks add a couple tbsp of butter to the pot, I don't. butter is for serving.

When your grits are creamy thick (and you may have to add a little bit of water as they will steam and cook too thick before they are done) remove the pot from the heat, cover and let rest a few minutes. Hot grits will peel the skin off your hands if you are not careful.

To serve: test for saltiness. Grits require a lot of salt like potatoes. Add a little until you get it right for your pallet. Remember you can add more but you can't take it out. When you serve them, in a bowl or a plate, put a nice big pat of butter right on top. Mix it in and let it melt. A little black pepper and some scrambled eggs and toast - you have a meal fit for a King. The grits are even better if you grate a little (or alot) of cheese over them. We prefer cheddar. But I have used whatever cheese is in the refrigerator at the moment.

Once you have mastered the ability to cook delicious creamy grits you can move on to other masterful recipes. Experiment with garlic. Garlic and cheese grits are excellent. You can mold them in a loaf pan and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices and fry them in with a little of the drippings from ham. You can make brown gravy and serve on the side with chipped beef. Salmon and eggs with grits is to die for! If you really get the hang of the unique and delicate nature of grits you might try a whole ham stuffed with turnips and grits and baked till done. The sky is the limit.

My favorite breakfast/supper in summer or winter is nice plate of creamy grits and a ripe fresh tomato sliced paper thin with salt and black pepper. Mmmmmmmm. Now that's good eats!

Hoss, don't turn your nose up until you have had a REAL masterfully cooked dish of grits.

Grits. It's what's good for you.

Select fresh, juicey ears of corn. Shuck, desilk and wash the ears in cold water. With a deep pan and a very sharp knife, cut the tips of the kernels from the cob. When you have the entire cob detipped rake your knife over the cob to milk it of all the delicious juices and inner fillings of the kernel. This is a job that will create great splatters until you get the hang of it. It can be very messy and require much clean up, but it is worth your efforts!

In a cast iron frying pan melt a stick of butter, gently, do not let it melt too fast or it will burn. Whent he butter and pan are hot, pour in the creamed corn, juice and all. Keep the heat low and stir frequently so that the corn does not scorch and stick. Add salt and pepper to taste until the corn is tender and soft, not crunchy to the teeth.

If you follow the same process and cook that corn in drippings from fatback you will then have "fried creamed corn". Equally as delicious as it's cousin cooked in butter.

How to choose perfect ears of corn:

Do not be shy in your produce market. Be selective of the corn you choose. Old corn will be dry and not have much milk and it will taste like eating cow feed. With your thumbnail break the husk on the corn so that you can see the kernels. With that same nail push into the top of the kernel. It should break easily and give you a burst of corn milk. That is a good ear of corn.

When you get home with the corn, do not let it sit for more than a day in your refrigerator. The corn will dry out much too fast and your dish will not be tastey. When shopping at a farmer's market I always buy a bushel at a time. I take it home and get busy right then, shucking, desilking and creaming it for the freezer. Juicey corn waits for no man and will turn hard on you in no time.

There are also two schools of thought on corn.

1. Yellow
2. White

I prefer white with some yellow mixed in for creamed corn. For corn-on-the-cob, roasted on the grill or boiled, I prefer yellow. For corn-on-the-cob to be cook in the same pot as summer peas I like some of both.

For those who are health conscious and are gasping at cooking in real butter and fatback, you are missing out on some of the best eating you will ever partake of. It is the fat that lends great flavor. In my kitchen butter and pork fat RULE! It is good stuff and in moderation it is not bad for you! Fatback and butter are not causes for remorse!

Peel and slice the tomato thinly and arrange the slices on a plate, letting the edges of the rounds slightly over lap, a beautiful red circling of tomatoes. Sprinkle lightly with salt and black pepper.