Chef Paul’s "Cookin' with Passion" Tip of the Week
Corn
Paul O'Toole: Tip of the Week to you! This is Chef Paul O'Toole, Chief Culinary Officer for all of the Forewinds Hospitality Golf Clubs with this week's tip.
Let's talk corn. Where did corn come from? Very interesting story about corn; corn has always been a generic name for any of the cereal grains. The Europeans used to call corn a derivative of the American Indian word “mahiz,” what we call “maize.” The settlers in the New World, the Europeans, had never seen the food. Indian corn was discovered by the colonists when they came to this country, and what a wonderful and versatile thing that they found! It was a plant where literally every part was used. Everything on the corn plant from the husk we made tamales and the kernels were used for food, the stalks for feed for animals, and even the silk was made into a tea.
Of course, the byproducts make alcohol such as bourbon and we make corn syrup and cornstarch, and corn whiskey, and corn oil, of course, and flour. Corn is certainly one of the great gifts - absolutely one of the most versatile vegetables that we have.
There are a few different types of corn. We have yellow corn and white corn, and I, being from the Northeast, have great claim to the Silver Queen corn. Being from the state of New Jersey, the Garden State, I feel that we have probably the finest corn that is out there, of course along with the tomatoes, the eggplants, and the blueberries, and the cranberries also -- New Jersey is a terrific state for produce.
But, let's get back to the Silver Queen corn. When you are at the supermarket and you are buying corn, there are a couple of things that you need to look for. If you peel back the husk of the corn, you want to make sure that the kernels go all the way to the top and that the corn is a white-yellowish opaque color. If the corn kernels are in a sequential row, where they are not sporadically placed on the cob and some of the kernels are misplaced. That is what we used to refer to in my younger days as the "horse corn." That corn was reserved specifically for feeding of the livestock, but the corn we are looking for is that whitish, silky-looking corn where the kernels are very tightly spaced. If you were to put your finger now at the top and just press down on the kernel, it should pop. It should be full of the moisture, called the liquor, of the kernel itself. It should be full and not dehydrated of moisture. If they are dehydrated, that means they are not going to be as sweet, they are not going to be as flavorful as the ones that are just bursting with moisture underneath that casing of the kernel.
Let's look at what we can do with this corn now. We can go on and on about how many things we could do with this, from making corn cakes, Johnny cakes, cornbread, jalapeño cornbread, blue cheese cornbread and so on, you get the idea.
Let's take what we are going to do with it outside. Of course, everybody loves corn on the cob. I come from the old school where corn on the cob was literally what we called "one-and-a-half-minute corn." We took the corn and in the corn water -- we filled a pot full of water -- we put milk, just a small amount of sugar, kosher salt and black pepper in the water, then the corn into the boiling pot of water. We literally timed it, so that in 90 seconds we pulled that corn out - and for the corn connoisseur, that corn is done just perfectly.
You don't want corn that's been rolling around in the water for an extended length of time where you bite into it and it falls off the cob and really has no bite back to it. You want something that's nice and juicy and pops back and has a crunch. It needs to have that crunch, when you can actually hear that crunch when you bite into it.
That's the boiled method of corn, and Silver Queen corn is still in my book the number one corn, if we have it outdoors and we put it in the boiling pot. Some people like to have it on the grill. If we want it on the grill, just as some of the Spanish Americans use the husk for the tamales, they dry the husks outside in the sun, where they get pretty hard and very resilient to heat.
What we can do with the husk is to peel the corn down and then to take the silk out of the corn and even put salt, pepper, and butter inside of the husk. Take those long stalks that are surrounding the cob and tie them back up at the top. See if you can get them to close in, whereby we are going to be steaming this corn on the cob right in its own jacket, so none of that flavor is able to escape.
Once we have that tied, we are going to very lightly brush that with a little bit of oil. We are going to put that off to the side while you are cooking your steak, or your kielbasa, or your kebabs, we are going to put the corn off to the side and we are just going to keep turning that corn. That corn will get hot enough on the top of your grill to actually steam inside of the jacket. When it's all done, your steak is done, your corn will be done. Take that and peel those stalks back. That should really taste great for you.
One of the things I like to make with the corn is a corn and asparagus salsa, which is pretty easy to make. Basically, take asparagus spears, toss them with a little bit of oil, salt, and pepper. Put them on the grill and we grill those. Then, we will take the corn itself and peel the husk off and put grill marks on that corn, so that the corn starts to caramelize.
In a mixing bowl, we take five asparagus spears and one each of a grilled corn on the cob, a tablespoon of red onions, a teaspoon of chopped garlic, a half a teaspoon of chopped cilantro, three ounces of extra virgin olive oil, an ounce of a champagne vinegar and another ounce of diced red pepper. Mix that in a mixing bowl, take the corn after it has been cooked, take the knife and cut the corn off the cob. Toss that into our salsa. That makes a great topping for fish or steak or to eat alone as a salad.
Enjoy your corn and use them while you have them. Summer is only so many months long. We have to take advantage of what's right in our backyard. Thanks.
That's my tip of the week. I am here to make certain your dining experience at any Forewinds golf club is a wow! Come out and taste the difference for yourself. This is Chef Paul promising we'll deliver Hospitality PLUS! on every visit.
