Go beyond the cob. Here are 3 recipes that give fresh summer corn a sweet twist.
This time of year, when fresh corn spills out of the back of pickup trucks and tumbles from tables at farmers markets, the questions we ask ourselves – after deciding on one dozen or two – usually center on whether to boil, steam or grill your golden stash.
But what if the answer instead was to bake?
Bakers Andrew Ullom and Jenni Field consume plenty of corn straight from the cob and stash bagfuls in the freezer for a taste of summer in the dead of winter. But when they peel back supple green stalks to reveal rows of of juicy niblets, their first inclination is to preheat the oven and prep their favorite bakeware.
Likewise, the sight of tassled corn at the State Farmers Market prompts Jared Plummer to dig through notebooks to find his recipe for creamy Sweet Corn Ice Cream. The ice cream is inspired by the corn grown in his parents’ garden in Stokesdale, near Greensboro.
“Many classic Southern side dishes, like corn casserole and creamed corn, incorporate milk and eggs, so it makes sense for ice cream,” says Plummer, owner of Two Roosters ice cream shop.
Making the most of muffins
Ullom, the former executive pastry chef for Ashley Christensen’s downtown Raleigh restaurants, is preparing a new venture to showcase his baked goods. He is gearing up to open Union Special Bread next year in the Gateway Plaza redevelopment.
In the meantime, he’s baking for pop-ups at Videri Chocolate Factory, BREW Coffee Bar and other local businesses.
Among the items he’s been baking lately are muffins made with sweet local corn, as well as buttermilk, cornmeal and flour – all produced in North Carolina.
“I was really happy to see the quality of corn here, which is like what I grew up with in Northeast Ohio,” says Ullom, whose baked goods will be featured Aug. 3 at Videri and at the Aug. 5 grand opening of DECO Raleigh’s new location from 9 a.m. to noon.
“My mom instilled in me just how special really good corn in,” he said.
He’s passing down that love by introducing the wonders of North Carolina corn to his son, Gus, who turns 2 in September.
“Muffins, in general, really are his thing, but he loves the corn muffins,” Ullom says.
Ullom takes pride in his “foolproof muffin base,” which he tweaks to incorporate whatever is in season. In addition to corn, patrons at recent pop-ups have enjoyed muffins bursting with blueberries.
“It’s pretty easy to make a big mix of dry ingredients, like if you’re going to make them once a week,” says Ullom, who suggests keeping the mix in a zip-top bag in the fridge. “The cool thing about the formula is you can use milk or buttermilk, fruit or cheese. I’ve also done it with vegetables, which is really cool.”
Ullom says it’s easy to prepare a batch before bed, letting a batter-filled muffin pan rest in the refrigerator overnight. Add the crumble topping just before sliding them in the oven, then enjoy oven-fresh muffins for breakfast.
Taste of summer
Field, a culinary instructor and recipe developer who blogs at Pastry Chef Online, has similarly created a master pound cake recipe that can be easily recast to suit what’s in season or in your pantry.
“I have to say, my Lemon Corn Pound Cake is probably one of the best cakes I’ve come up with,” Field says. “It’s so summery. It starts out more lemony, then the next day it tastes more corny.
Field had toyed with the idea of featuring the recipe in a cookbook focusing on pound cakes. She decided against that, however, preferring to share recipes with blog followers and through her Cook the Book series of livestream cooking shows broadcast from her kitchen. Her next event will be on Aug. 6 with guest Samantha Shapiro-Ferraro, author of “The Weeknight Mediterranean Kitchen.”
Field was was inspired to create the corn pound cake a few years ago for an annual party she and her husband host at their Garner home, which is near Ken’s Korny Corn Maze. They’ve never visited the fall attraction but figure it’s as good an excuse as any to gather friends for an all-corn menu.
“The easiest way to get flavor into a cake it to steep something awesome into the dairy,” Field explains. “In this case, you simmer corn in buttermilk, puree it in the blender, then smash it down in a fine mesh strainer to strain out the solids.”
Lemon gave the corn flavor a needed lift, she adds. Be warned that the baking aroma is fairly intoxicating. Let the cake cool at least 30 minutes before freeing from a well-coated Bundt pan.
“It will keep moist and delightful on the counter five or six days. Chances are it won’t last that long,” she said, “but it can.”
Meanwhile, Plummer, like Ullom, is gearing up for a new venture: a second location of his Two Roosters scoop shop. The first, a spinoff of his popular ice cream truck, opened last year in North Raleigh. The second will be in the Person Street district on East Franklin Street. It won’t open until next year but he has plans for pop-up ice cream shops for the summer.
His Sweet Corn Ice Cream may not be on the menu at the new location by the time it opens, but it can be enjoyed at home as long as corn season continues.
“Corn is one of my favorite foods,” says Plummer, who swoons at the thought of roasted corn slathered with butter and sprinkled with salt. “For home chefs, it’s easy to make homemade ice cream too ‘corny,’ so be careful to find a balance between all the ingredients.”
Jill Warren Lucas is a Raleigh-based freelance writer. She can be reached at 3lucases@gmail.com or on Twitter @jwlucasnc.
Sweet Corn Ice Cream
Jared Plummer, owner of Two Roosters ice cream shop, occasionally makes fresh corn ice cream at his shop. This version is scaled down for home use. Look for locally grown corn that “is so sweet and fresh you could almost eat it straight from the field.” See variations below.
2 ears of fresh corn, husked
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 large egg yolks
Slice kernels off the cobs and “milk” the cob by scraping it with the back of knife, collecting juices into a container. Reserve kernels and liquid. Should be about 1½ cups of kernels.
Prepare an ice bath in a large bowl and put another bowl on top of it; set aside.
Combine cream, milk, sugar, corn and juices in a saucepan, and heat until steam starts to rise. Remove from the heat and force mixture through a fine strainer into a bowl, leaving the corn casings behind.
In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks until uniform. While whisking, add a splash of the hot dairy mixture to the yolks. Continue to add dairy mixture little by little until half of mixture remains. Pour egg yolk mixture back into remaining dairy mixture.
Place combined mixture back in saucepan and cook the custard over medium-high heat, stirring continuously, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of wooden spoon, usually when the mixture begins to bubble.
Pour hot mixture into bowl sitting in ice bath. Let stand until cold, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.
Pour the cold mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions.
Variations: Try roasting the corn on the grill before shucking, which adds a nice char and smoky flavor. Ripple or top with a fresh blackberry compote. Plummer use a ratio of 2 cups berries to 1 cup sugar for the topping. Or add a couple of sprigs of cilantro in the first cream, milk, sugar combination, then strain out. Add a ripple of sriracha for an unexpected kick.
Union Special Corn Muffins
Andrew Ullom uses a 2-ounce scoop of batter to fill 12 muffin cups with this batter. The amount of corn can be replaced with any fruit or vegetable, and the cornmeal in this formula can be swapped for flour if you prefer a super tender muffin. For best results, he recommends ordering Carolina Ground Flour’s Trinity Bend for the all-purpose flour (store in the freezer in a zip-top bag) and picking up some Lindley Mills stone ground cornmeal and Ran-Lew Dairy buttermilk, both available at Weaver Street Market.
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup yellow stone ground cornmeal
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 whole eggs
1/2 pound (two sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup whole milk or buttermilk
2 1/2 cups corn, cut from from the cob
Cornmeal Crumble
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups stone ground cornmeal
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. (350 degrees if your oven has convection).
To make the crumble: Combine the flour, cornmeal, brown sugar, powder, soda and salt in a bowl. Add the cold butter in cubes and rub the butter in-between your fingers to coat the dry ingredients. Continue to work the butter and dry ingredients until you have uniform pea-sized clumps. Store the unbaked crumble in a zip-top bag or plastic container in the fridge until ready to bake muffins.
To make the muffins: Combine the flour, cornmeal, sugars, salt and baking powder in a small bowl.
Crack the eggs in a medium-sized bowl and whisk to break up the yolks. While whisking, pour in the melted butter slowly and whisk to combine. Add the milk and the cut corn, plus any milky scrapings from the corn cobs.
Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and gently fold everything together with a spatula just until you no longer see any dry ingredients.
Divide the batter equally among the muffin tin. Muffins cups make everything much easier, but if you don’t have them you can cut a half-sheet of parchment into 6 equal pieces and it’ll make those “tulip” cups everyone loves.
Add some of the cornmeal crumble on top of each muffin and bake for 22-25 minutes. The crumble will be golden brown and a cake tester will come out clean.
Tips: Allow the muffins to cool completely; the corn is hot for longer than you’d think. You can pipe the muffins the night before and add the crumbs and bake in the morning. If you have piping bags, you can make this base up to two days ahead of time and keep the bag in the fridge until you want to bake them off.
An option: While the corn muffin recipe calls for all-purpose flour and cornmeal, Ullom suggests using all flour for a versatile ready mix. Into a gallon zip-top bag, place three cups flour, one-half cup each of white and brown sugar, a half-teaspoon of sea salt and a tablespoon of baking powder. Squeeze out the air, seal and keep in the refrigerator until needed. When ready to bake, add 2 1/2 cups fruit or vegetables (or cheese or nuts), two eggs and two sticks of butter, then follow the general direction below. If you want to turn the cornmeal crumble into streusel, substitute rolled oats for the cornmeal.
Lemon Corn Buttermilk Pound Cake
Jenni Field created this recipe about four years ago. While she considers it one of her best cake creations ever, it’s built on her no-fail pound cake recipe, which she says can be used to feature whatever is seasonal or in your pantry.
6 ounces fresh sweet white corn kernels (or no-salt-added canned, drained, about 1 1/3 cups)
6 ounces whole buttermilk, at cool room temperature (about 3/4 cup, and maybe a touch more, if necessary)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons finely ground white cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
12 ounces unsalted butter (3 sticks), cool room temperature
2 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons fine sea salt
Zest of a medium lemon
5 eggs, beaten, cool room temperature
Set a rack in the lower-third of your oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Thoroughly spray and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan, tapping out the excess flour. Set aside.
Combine the corn and buttermilk in a blender jar and blend until corn is pureed. Pour through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing down well on the solids. You should end up with 10 ounces of liquid, or 1 1/4 cup. If you are a little shy of that, add buttermilk until you have 10 ounces.
Thoroughly sift or whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
With a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth, scraping the bowl and paddle as necessary.
Add the sugar, salt and lemon zest. Cream on medium-high speed until very light and fluffy, scraping the bowl and paddle as necessary. This will take about 8 minutes.
With the mixer on medium-low speed, slowly drizzle in the beaten eggs, a bit at a time, scraping the bowl and paddle as necessary. This should take about 5 minutes.
Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the buttermilk/corn mixture, beginning and ending with dry. I add the dry in 3 additions and the milk in 2. After the last addition of dry ingredients, you can finish mixing the batter by hand with a spatula.
Scoop the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake until the cake is a beautiful deep golden brown and the cake is just starting to pull from the sides of the pan. The internal temperature should be 200 degrees. Baking time will vary depending on your oven. Start checking at around 50 minutes and go from there. It takes 1 hour and 5 minutes in my oven.
Remove to a rack and cool for 30 minutes before turning out. To make the cake extra moist, wrap the unmolded cake in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool. Otherwise, leave it to cool.
This cake is lovely as is, but you could also add some lemon glaze or a dusting of powdered sugar for serving.
Variation: This can be turned into a lemon buttermilk pound cake by leaving out the corn and cornmeal and using 10 ounces (1 1/4 cups) of buttermilk and 13 ounces all-purpose flour.
This story was originally published August 3, 2018 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Go beyond the cob. Here are 3 recipes that give fresh summer corn a sweet twist.."