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Stewed Corn
Cut with a sharp knife through the center of every row of grains, and cut off the outer edge; then with the back of the blade push out the yellow eye, with the rich, creamy center of the grain, leaving the hull on the cob. To one quart of this add half a pint rich milk, and stew until cooked in a covered tin pail, in a kettle one-third full of boiling water; then add salt, white pepper, and two or three ounces butter; allow two hours for cooking; it seems a long time, but there is no danger of burning, and it requires no more attention than to stir it occasionally and to keep good the supply of water. If drier than liked, add more milk or cream. Or, after cutting corn from the cob, boil the cobs ten or fifteen minutes and take out and put corn in same water; when tender, add a dressing of milk, butter, pepper and salt, and just before serving, stir in beaten eggs, allowing three eggs to a dozen ears of corn.
Two methods for one dish: a long double-boiler stew of scraped corn, and a quicker version thickened with egg. The scraping technique is the whole point of the first, and modern sweet corn radically changes the timing.
- The scrape is the recipeSplitting each row with the knife tip, then pushing the pulp out with the back of the blade, leaves the tough hulls behind on the cob. That pulp is what old books call the milk of the corn; it is the difference between this dish and plain boiled kernels, and no food processor reproduces it. A serrated knife and a shallow bowl are enough.
- QuantitiesA quart of scraped pulp takes roughly 10 to 14 ears, depending on size. Half a pint of milk is one cup; two or three ounces of butter is 4 to 6 tablespoons.
- The improvised double boilerA covered tin pail standing in a kettle a third full of boiling water is a bain-marie. Use a metal bowl or a smaller saucepan set in a larger one, or a proper double boiler. The purpose is to make scorching impossible, since corn pulp is starchy and sticks readily over direct heat.
- Two hours is for a corn that no longer existsTwo hours suits a starchier corn -- Nineteenth-century field and sweet corns were generally starchier than what we buy now, and were often picked well past what we would call prime. Modern supersweet varieties are usually tender in something like 15 to 25 minutes of gentle stewing, and long cooking tends to flatten their flavour. Cook until the pulp thickens and tastes cooked rather than raw, then stop.
- Cob broth in the second methodSimmering the stripped cobs for 10 to 15 minutes pulls out starch and sweetness, and it is worth doing even if you follow the first method: use the cob water in place of some of the milk.
- The eggs will scramble if you let themThree beaten eggs to a dozen ears goes in off the heat, or over the lowest possible flame, with constant stirring. Temper them first with a ladle of the hot corn. Once the mixture is thickened, do not return it to a boil or it curdles.
- Seasoning orderSalt goes in after the corn has softened, as the original directs. White pepper was preferred for appearance in pale dishes; black pepper will do the job, though it tastes noticeably different and looks speckled.
- YieldA quart of scraped corn with milk and butter serves six as a side dish. It thickens as it cools and reheats well with a splash more milk.
The Dixie Cook Book, compiled by Estelle Woods Wilcox and published in the 1880s, was one of a family of large subscription cookbooks assembled from contributed household receipts and marketed regionally; the Dixie edition aimed its collection at Southern kitchens, where corn was a staple in many forms. Stewed corn of this kind anticipates what a can now labels cream-style: the creaminess comes from the corn's own starchy pulp, not from cream, and the hulls are left on the cob because they will not soften. Green-corn cookery in general, including succotash, descends from Native American practice, though the specific business of splitting each row and scraping out the pulp cannot be traced to any one source. The book's remark that two hours "seems a long time" is a useful reminder of how tough and starchy market corn could be before refrigerated shipping and modern sweet varieties made speed possible.