Corn Pudding (Lauderdale)
"Lauderdale," Virginia
Cut six ears of soft corn from the cob, making several cuts in each grain, and scrape the milk from the cob. To this add one egg, well beaten, one tablespoonful of sugar, one of butter and one teaspoonful of salt. Mix all well together and bake for half an hour.
A plainer Virginia corn pudding — just corn, one egg, and seasoning — that leans on scraping the cob for all its richness.
- Cut, then scrapeScore each grain and scrape the cob to release the starchy “milk” — that liquid, not eggs or cream, does most of the thickening here.
- “Soft corn” mattersThis needs young, tender “green” corn; mature or stored corn is too starchy and dry to give up its milk.
- One egg, no separatingSimpler than its soufflé-style cousin: a single beaten egg binds it, so it bakes denser and more custardy.
- Bake time and heat“Half an hour” at a moderate 350°F (175°C) sets it — check that the center is just firm.
- Balance the seasoningA tablespoon each of sugar and butter with a teaspoon of salt keeps it savory-sweet; adjust the salt to taste.
The heart of this recipe is a technique older than any cookbook: scraping the cob. After the kernels are cut, drawing a knife down the bare cob presses out a sweet, starchy liquid that country cooks called the corn’s “milk” — the secret to a creamy pudding without any cream. It only works with young “roasting ears,” picked in the brief high-summer window when the kernels are plump and soft. Virginia and the broader South built a whole repertoire around green corn in those weeks, from puddings to fritters, racing the harvest before the sugars turned to starch.
From page 60 of the 1904 edition.
Original page from the book
