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Succotash
One pint of green corn cut from the cob, and twothirds of a pint of Lima beans; let them stew in just enough water to cover them until tender, then season with butter, pepper, salt, and a little milk; simmer together a few moments and serve.
A plain, sound recipe that needs only a few notes on quantities and on the beans, which are the part most likely to go wrong.
- Quantities in cupsA pint of cut corn is 2 cups, roughly the yield of 3 to 5 medium ears depending on size. Two-thirds of a pint of beans is 1 1/3 cups.
- "Green corn"This means fresh sweet corn in the milk stage, not a green-coloured variety. Frozen kernels work; drained canned corn is already cooked and should go in only for the final simmer.
- The beans set the timingFresh shelled limas take 20 to 30 minutes at a bare simmer, frozen ones about 10. Cook them to tender before the corn joins them, or you will have chalky beans and collapsed corn. Dried limas need soaking and a good hour and are a different proposition altogether.
- "Just enough water to cover"Keep it that low. The point is that the starch from the beans and the milky liquid from the corn thicken what remains into a light sauce; a potful of water dilutes it and you end up draining away the flavour.
- Adding the milkOnce the milk is in, hold the pan below a boil. Corn liquor and milk curdle readily at a rolling boil, and the mixture is meant to look creamy rather than broken.
- SeasoningThe original gives no amounts. Around 2 tablespoons butter, a teaspoon of salt and a few grinds of pepper suit this volume, with 1/3 to 1/2 cup milk.
- YieldAbout 3 1/2 cups cooked, enough for four as a side dish.
Succotash is one of the oldest borrowings in American cookery: the name is generally traced to Narragansett msickquatash, understood as boiled corn kernels, and the pairing of corn with beans reflects the way the two were commonly grown together across much of eastern North America. Corn and beans also complement each other nutritionally. By the time The Home Cook Book appeared in the 1870s, versions close to this one -- fresh summer corn, shell beans, butter and a little milk -- were common in northern printed recipes, while Southern versions often used salt pork or bacon fat and sometimes tomatoes or okra. Lima beans appear frequently as the partner in printed recipes of the period, but any fresh shell bean could serve in a household that grew its own.