Corn Inspires Me
When Laika bites down on a corn cob, her eyes land on some fixed middle distance that must be devoid of seeing, so total is her rapture. Her cheeks puff and her face twists into a grimace to fit around the large object. I hold one end of the cob for her, but I’m scared by her hawk-like peckings and I switch from hand to hand to keep fingers out of the way. The first time she ate corn this way, there was blood. Now she is more professional.
I, too, like corn, though in a gentler manner. I like the sweetest corn briefly blanched (~1 minute) so that it’s still fresh and crunchy. Or I like it grilled, cut off the cob and mixed with lime and mayonnaise and cotija for esquites. What I love the most is corn in desserts. A corn gelato will do me in. The first time I went to Fan-Fan Doughnuts was two summers ago when they had their fresh corn diplomat with Pinole caramel. I’ve tried twice to make corn kolaches, which were good but not quite perfect enough for me to consider finished (Yellow Rose had one recently, but I didn’t get to try).
My recipe for paid subscribers this week is cold soba in corn cob dashi with summer squash, grilled corn kernels, king oyster mushrooms, and scallions/basil/raw garlic. I’ve also been dreaming about a roasted miso and sweet corn cake — a rich, craggy loaf that you could cut into slices and toast like banana bread — that will hopefully show up as the recipe for next week.
For now, though, I want to take a tour of some of the most inspiring ways I’m seeing others cook corn this season. And I would love to hear from you in the comments about what you do with it!
Fun Fact: “I saw a video about corn in Japan and people like to eat it vertically.” — JDLV
From the Yu & Me Bake Sale: Dacha 46’s Sweet Corn Medovik
Medovik is a finicky heavily-layered cake that intersperses thin sponge with a cream filling much lighter than buttercream, making every bite moist and balanced. Its hallmark flavors are honey and smetana/sour cream, which makes it well-suited to corn. I’ve been to Dacha 46’s excellent pop-ups before, so when I saw them sign up for the Yu & Me Bake Sale the other week, I knew they’d blow it away. The cake was so moist it reminded me of Tres Leches (hey — corn tres leches!) and the sponge was fluffy. I kept it in the fridge and ate it in cold bites over the course of the next day.
From the Yu & Me Bake Sale: HAGS’ toasted corn cookie sandwiches with strawberry filling (vegan)
You know I love corn cookies, and the idea of pairing them with a creamy strawberry filling is so obvious I’m surprised I haven’t made these myself yet. These cookies were soft enough that you could bite through them without the center squirting out, and the filling had chunks of fresh strawberry.
Lars, the cookie-creator and pastry chef at HAGS, told me this about the cookies: “The cookie itself has three types of corn incorporated: flour, house made corn milk, + house dried and ground corn kernel powder. We found the cutest last of season baby strawberries that got roasted and whipped into the buttercream, with a few kept fresh as a surprise in the middle since they were so yum! Sandwiched together and topped with a sprinkle of edible glitter to make a cute lil mid-summer treat.” Thank you Lars!
Six Seasons: Raw Corn with Walnuts, Mint, and Chiles
I never considered eating corn raw until I came across Joshua McFadden’s recipe in Six Seasons, but when it’s super fresh and sweet, it doesn’t need even the blanching that I normally do. Some kind of salad with toasted nuts, fresh leaves like mint or basil or arugula, parmesan if you want, and maybe something pickled (onions, chiles, carrots?) sounds great to me.
Esquites Pizza at The Esters
The Esters is pretty much the only place I go out to eat these days, when I want a glass of thought-provoking wine and a puffy crispy pizza with fresh toppings. Anthony and I always get a margherita and the special, which right now is the corn, cilantro, and crema-topped Esquites Pie, served with a lime wedge and packet of Valentina hot sauce.
If you’re making corn pizza yourself, I’d suggest making it a white pie, since tomato sauce might overwhelm the flavor. You could probably combine it with raw grated zucchini for more freshness and to balance the sweetness, or go with cherry tomatoes if you’re happy with the sweet. Basil or cilantro or another fresh herb on top (after baking) would be great.
Andrew Janjigian’s “Cornzanella”
The basic idea here is just to make panzanella and add corn kernels. Got it? This opens up so many possibilities though. Tomatoes, of course, and summer squash or pickled red onions would be nice. Andrew recommends adding cheese, which isn’t traditionally part of panzanella, but I like the idea of a little parmesan or ricotta salata.
Yellow Rose had something going on with tomatoes, peaches, ricotta and deep-fried corn bread. You could add any stone fruit, or even go all the way into dessert like with Abra Berens’ Sweet Panzanella — imagine corn bread, corn kernels, roasted strawberries and sweetened whipped crème fraîche?
Hetty McKinnon’s Cheese Corn Nachos
Corn should obviously be on nachos!
Corn Cacio e Pepe
Mix soft butter, grated parmesan & black pepper together and slather it on corn cobs while they’re still hot. Maybe add a little ground Sichuan peppercorn for a punch?
Emily’s idea for corn-infused French Toast that she is describing while I’m writing this
I’m currently upstate catering a wedding while Emily makes us French Toast, and she’s saying that if she had time, she would toast an ear or two of corn in the oven, cut off the kernels and let the corn cobs infuse the bowl of cream, eggs, sugar and vanilla that’s waiting to soak the bread. Maybe you have the time to do this?
…But then the next day she made us hush puppies
Flour, cornmeal, buttermilk, baking powder, an egg, fresh corn kernels, all mixed into a batter then shallow-fried (heat an inch of oil, add the fritters, and spoon more oil over the top as they’re cooking), and sprinkled with salt afterwards. Fried-crunchy on the outside and fresh-crunchy on the inside.
Jenn’s “Corn Snow
This granita made from puréed corn is wild! Get Jenn’s recipe by subscribing to her on Patreon.
We bought our corn this weekend from the Andrews brothers, who have been selling it since 1962