Maize, Boiled
INGREDIENTS. - The ears of young and green Indian wheat; to every 1/24 gallon of water allow 1 heaped tablespoonful of salt.
This vegetable, which makes one of the most delicious dishes brought to table, is unfortunately very rarely seen in Britain; and we wonder that it is not more often cultivated. Our sun, it is true, possesses hardly power sufficient to ripen maize; but, with well-prepared ground and favourable position, it might be sufficiently advanced by the beginning of autumn to serve as a vegetable. The outside sheath being taken off and the waving fibres removed, let MAIZE PLANT. in a the ears be placed in boiling water, where they should remain for about 25 minutes (a longer time may be necessary for larger ears than ordinary); and, when sufficiently boiled and well drained, they may be sent to table whole and with a piece of toast underneath them. Melted butter should be served with them.
TIME.-25 to 35 minutes.
SEASONABLE in autumn.
This is boiled corn on the cob, written when sweetcorn was a curiosity in British gardens. The one thing to change is the timing.
- TimingModern sweetcorn varieties are bred for sugar and tenderness and need 3 to 5 minutes in boiling water, not 25 to 35. Applied to supermarket corn, the long boil here gives you a shrunken, tough kernel.
- Water and saltThe water quantity in the original has lost part of its fraction; read it as roughly half a gallon (about 2.3 litres) to a heaped tablespoon of salt. Many cooks now omit the salt altogether, since salted water is often said to toughen the skins, and add butter and salt at the table instead.
- "Indian wheat"Maize, not wheat of any kind. Victorian English used "Indian corn" and "Indian wheat" for what a modern shop sells as sweetcorn or corn on the cob.
- Choosing the ears"Young and green" means immature, milky kernels: press a kernel with a thumbnail and it should burst with pale liquid rather than dent. Sugar converts to starch quickly after picking, so cook the same day if possible.
- PreparationStrip the husk and rub off the silk (the "waving fibres"). Snap or cut off the stalk end so the ears sit flat in the pan.
- The toastThe slice underneath is there to absorb butter and the water clinging to the cob, in the same spirit as toast under asparagus. It is optional; a warmed dish and a folded napkin do the same job.
- Butter"Melted butter" in Mrs Beeton's usage is plain drawn butter, sometimes thickened slightly with flour. Straight melted butter, or butter served in a pat per person, is closer to what most people want now.
- YieldOne or two ears per person as a side dish. Serve immediately: corn cools fast and the kernels firm up as it does.
Mrs Beeton's tone here is that of an enthusiast arguing an unpopular case. Sweetcorn was well established as a summer vegetable in North America by the mid-nineteenth century, but in Britain maize was chiefly known as animal feed and as imported meal, and the British summer rarely gave the crop enough heat to fill out before autumn. Hence the note that it is "unfortunately very rarely seen in Britain" and the mild reproach that it is not more often grown. The advice to place the ears on toast and serve drawn butter alongside shows a cook fitting an unfamiliar vegetable into the existing English service for asparagus and seakale, and the season given as autumn rather than high summer reflects how slowly the ears ripened in a cool climate. Reliable early-maturing varieties and plastic cloches eventually settled the argument in her favour.