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To Roast Corn in the Oven
Turn back the husk on each ear of corn and carefully remove the silk and all imperfections; then replace the husks and tie at the small end. Lay the ears thus, prepared in a baking pan or grate in hot oven half an hour, or until thoroughly cooked.
A method rather than a formula, and one that still works exactly as written. The only things left unsaid are the oven temperature and how long fresh corn should have been off the stalk.
- "Hot oven" means 425-450F"Hot oven" -- in books of this period the term is usually taken as somewhere in the 400-450F range. Set the rack in the middle and give the oven a full preheat; at appreciably lower temperatures the husks tend to steam rather than dry and colour.
- TimingHalf an hour suits large, mature ears. Modern supersweet hybrids picked young are done in 20 to 25 minutes; the kernels should be plump and glossy, not collapsed.
- Tying the huskUse kitchen twine or a strip torn from an outer husk. Avoid anything with plastic or wire in it, and pull the tie snug so no steam escapes at the tip.
- Dry husksIf the ears have been sitting in a refrigerator for days the husks will be papery and may scorch. A ten-minute soak in cold water before tying gives you the steam the method depends on.
- Removing the silkPeeling the husk back in one sheet from the tip, rather than tearing off leaves, is what lets you replace it. Silk left behind will not hurt anything but is unpleasant to pick off a hot ear at the table.
- ServingThe husks come off in one pull while hot; let them cool a minute first. One or two ears a person, with butter and salt added after cooking rather than before.
Roasting corn in its own husk is a very old method, long predating European kitchens on the continent; the husk acts as a ready-made steaming vessel and needs no equipment beyond fire. Nineteenth-century American cookbooks generally treat green corn as a fleeting summer luxury, since sugar in the kernel begins converting to starch soon after picking, which is why older writers are emphatic about cooking it the same day it comes from the field. The oven version here reflects the spread of enclosed cooking ranges: what had been done in ashes or on a grate over coals could now be done indoors.