Monday, October 6, 2008

Pure Corny Goodness

Spent today making Scrape Corn with my parents. Back in 1991 my father, whose favorite food was corn, cut off the cob with lots of buuter, was diagnosed with diverticulitis. As a result he can't eat corn, or nuts or seeds unless they are ground up or all small hard bits have been previously demolished. He could, I suppose, chew each bite until it reaches a complete paste but that removes some enjoyment of eating.

So, a couple years later, my mother dug up the recipe for Scrape Corn. It's NOT good for the cholesterol, nor is it really all that healthy...perhaps stick-to-your-ribs would be a better description.

Ingredients: Corn on the cob, uncooked
Butter/margerine
Time

Using a knife or razor blade, puncture every kernel on the corn. Then scrape the blade of a knife down the ear of corn in small portions into a bowl, until all the pieces of the kernel have been demolished and added to the bowl. Note: This is a messy process. Repeat until all the corn has been scraped.

Melt 2 Tbs butter/margerine in a large frying pan over med-low heat. Add scraped corn to fill the frying pan. Cook, over low-med-low heat, stirring often. Use a spatula to scrape the bottom of the pan. If it is sticking badly to the pan, add more butter. Cook for approximately 1 hour (or until most of the liquid has been cooked off). The final consistency should be like a thick pudding. Add salt to taste. This makes a very autumnal or nice winter side dish in small amounts. It's very rich and tastes like corn candy (not candy corn).

I would assume that this is a recipe of old New England, but I've never researched it. (Hmmm, I have a food historian coming to do a program at the CT Historical Society next month...maybe I should ask her?)

Enjoy.

1 comment:

queenofsheba said...

oh man that gives me ideas. It's interesting, too, in the French Laundry cookbook, there is a risotto recipe that uses corn juice, but I think this would actually work better!