Roasting Ears

"Roasting ears" are simply fresh ears of sweet corn, boiled here rather than roasted. The instructions were written for field corn picked at the milk stage and cooked in hard water, and both of those assumptions have since changed.

• The timing is the thing to changeFifteen to twenty minutes at a furious boil will leave modern sweet corn limp and starchy. Ears from a supermarket or farm stand need three to five minutes in boiling water, less if very fresh; the kernels should still burst when bitten.
• What "break it with a little soda" meansA pinch of baking soda was added to counter hard water: it converts dissolved calcium salts into insoluble carbonate -- the "lime" of the recipe -- which is skimmed off and left behind when the water is poured into a second pot. With softened or filtered water the step serves no purpose, and soda left in the water can soften and discolour the kernels.
• Skip the sugarA teaspoon of sugar compensated for corn whose own sugars had begun converting to starch in the hours after picking. Sugary-enhanced and supersweet cultivars, which now dominate the market, need no help.
• SaltSeveral pinches in the pot is harmless, though some cooks leave salt out of corn water on the belief that it toughens the kernel skins, and salt the ears at the table instead.
• Cover the pot, then take it off the heatCovering tightly is sound advice: it keeps the water at temperature when the cold ears go in. Once it returns to the boil, a covered pot off the heat holds corn perfectly well for a few minutes if the rest of the meal is late.
• YieldReckon on one to two ears per person, and buy ears with fresh green husks and moist, pale silk.