Canned cream corn was a “typhoon special menu item” in our home. As soon as we turned to “de-lata” mode we were sure to have cream corn in there somewhere. We weren’t even discriminating about what to serve it with… I recall eating cream corn with adobo, fried chicken and even with Vienna sausages! Today, we still stock cream corn in the pantry, usually to serve as a side dish when we have steak or pan-fried double pork chops. But after I recently tried this recipe for “Creamless Cream Corn” by Tom Colicchio of Gramercy Tavern and Craft restaurant fame, I will never look at canned cream corn in the same way…
First of all, the recipe calls for white corn, which tends to be almost sweeter in the U.S., but there wasn’t any white corn on offer at the roadside stands on the way to Tagaytay. They had sweet yellow corn, and frankly, early in the morning when we drove by, the ears looked like they had been picked the day before. For once this is the condition I precisely needed, as a day or even two day old corn is better for this recipe. The sugars will have started to turn to starch, making the dish seem even creamier!
I started off with nearly 20 ears of yellow corn, and tried to use this contraption that was supposed to make kernel removal a breeze. Not sure if I was using it correctly, but it was a bit of a pain in the neck. If it’s true that the company has already sold over 1 million of these stainless steel gadgets, there must be 999,000 of them hiding in the back of people’s kitchen drawers… We ended up taking out a chef’s knife and in just a few minutes cut the kernels off all the corn cobs. Discard the cobs or use them in a corn stock if you like.
In a large enough skillet or dutch oven, I added about 2/3 of a cup of butter over medium heat, and about 1/2 cup of minced onion. I let this saute for a couple of minutes until the onion was just translucent. Add about 2/3 of all the corn you have cut off the cobs and saute for several minutes, mixing every once in a while.
Meanwhile, take the remaining 1/3 of the corn kernels, put it in a powerful blender with a cup of water, and blitz it good. Strain the mush or puree and put this in a double boiler set over simmering water. Stir constantly for about 3-4 minutes and the sauce will thicken up. Take this off the heat. Season with some salt and pepper.
The transformation of the corn and water mush into a lcreamy sauce is quite amazing actually. So simple to do, but the heating of the serious starch content results in a very creamy sauce. Now you should have a saute pan with corn butter and onion and another pan with the corn sauce.
When the corn kernels sauteing in butter is cooked, take it off the heat and add the creamy sauce and season with salt and pepper if necessary.
You will be amazed by how this dish looks… so simple yet so appealing and attractive.
Add some chopped fresh tarragon and some minced grilled red peppers (my addition) and mix gently.
Serve immediately. A wonderful dish. A little more effort than taking a can opener out and popping the lid of a tin, but the results were well worth it. The best cream corn I have ever tasted. And all ingredients were locally sourced.
25 Responses
wow!looks do delicious. We know you are now officially on vacation but it really warms our hearts that you left all these wonderful posts for us to relish while you are away.Thank you very much and enjoy the rest of your trip.We look forward to your “‘travel report” :) soon!
that looks delicious. i will try cooking this next weekend….thanks,mm.
this makes me want to go and buy corn and cook right now! MM, do I need to strain the puree before adding to the onion mixture?
our fresh corn soup is kinda made like this. in tarlac, my grandparents called it suam, and it is usually made with white corn too. but in its absence, we substitute the sweet yellow corn that’s more common. the only differences in our preperation are the way we slice in and the pureeing in the blender. instead of removing the corn kernels fully from the cob, it is “shaved” into thin slices, releasing the starch from each kernel, until you reach the cob itself. then we just saute it, let the corn simmer in some water and it’s soup! no herb or other frills. i guess the lessening of the water makes it more creamy. But using white corn for the soup (or for your recipe) will turn out a deliciously thick and much creamier consistency :D
that really looks SO good! corn season is here, and that’s a great dish! Clarissa’s corn soup also sounds delicious. how about some crab meat and make crab and corn soup from scratch, and not from a packet?
I hardly ever use corn as a vegetable since we only ate them as such like Clarissa’s suam above though our version is soupy and accompanied small shrimps or pork hocks and sometimes on the cob added to nilagang baka. All of its other uses are as dessert or snack like corn maruya, bibingka and suman or with shaved ice. In university, I looked forward to it as binatog which in other parts of Central Luzon is called kinulti, actually our local word for nixtamalization. Over the years, I noticed too that in North America only colleagues who are much much older than me order cream corn with their meals causing me to view and avoid it as gizzard food.
we cook it ginisa style, with pork and shrimps. then we add other vegetables like okra, sitaw, dahong amplaya and talong. Its is best to use the white lagkitan variety. A regular peeler works as well in removing the kernels. Takes a few strokes until you get to the cob. then use a knife to scrape all the juices.
I occasionally add freshly grated corn when cooking steamed rice, especially when the ulam is Fried Chicken or Pork, even longganisa!
The result is a wonderful corn flavored rice :)
Amazing Marketman!!! My mouth is watering right now… Maybe a little cocunut milk would
also help make dish more tasty…
There’s one type of corn in pangasinan that is sticky. I wonder how those type of corn will hold to the above recipe?
My girlfriend would like this very much! She likes corn a lot and this would be a different way to prepare it. This would definitely be noted down under “to try”…
ever try roasted or grilled cream corn? there’s just the additional step of roasting or grilling the corn first before the kernels are cut off. just like cream corn but with a toasty nuance.
Kuhn Rikon has a couple of versions of a corn zipper, the new version here: https://kuhnrikon.com/products/tools/tools.php3?id=372
is it cream corn or creamED corn?
Marketman, what is your preferred brand of butter? If it’s made from France can you say the quality is top-notch? Appreciate your comments based on your experience. :) Thanks.
Looks yummy MM! On the foodnetwork website, Paula Deen has something very similar,only she starts off with bacon and butter. Heart attack heaven!
Jake, there are good butters in several countries, but I like the ones with less water content. Also, start off with unsalted butter as the conventional wisdom says that salt masks bad butter, so better to start off with it unsalted. emsy, I actually started writing the post using creamed corn, but a review of the original recipe from which this is adapted and other recipes suggests cream corn… rina, thanks for the link. junb, not sure, but too stiky might make a rather thick cream corn version. zerho, the dish is rich and tasty with all the butter, but I guess you could add coconut milk if you like… millet, yes, strain puree before using… (Oh, and not sure why the server indicates I am in Great Britain, but I am not… :)
Daghang salamat aning scrumptious dish Mr. Marketman. We have just gotten back from Walmart with some fresh and sweet corn, and I am definitely not waiting. After I’m done sending this message, off to the kitchen I go.
OMG, this is one of those knock your socks off good. I didn’t even strain the puree, and the finished product tasted almost like a dessert. It’s that good folks. Thank you so much Mr. Marketman for sharing this.
We do cream our corn too; when its in season, they sell it so cheap – sometimes 8 for a dollar, so we buy a lot. I sometimes use cream corn – added to my maja de blanco. At church where I volunteer in the Food Bank – I cook canned cream corn in a chowder, and recently in onion/corn soup. They are great.
do you cook the corn before you take off the kernels or do you start with completely raw unhusked corn?
mojito drinker, start with raw corn, no need to cook before you cut off kernels.
Do think it would be ok if I use the corn that they sell at S & R?
WOW
I sort of do what you did with the corn, but with kalabasa for my pinakbet. I like a thick sauce but prefer my veggies still firm. I have never thought of doing this with corn, and now I suppose I’ll keep on thinking about what you did until I actually do it myself. But, OMG, the amount of butter required might mean I ought to have this just once during an entire typhoon season.
you like hot peppers? you wanna grow some? i got a ton of seeds of a bunch of different varieties. i can send you some seeds if you want.
got different color habaneros, bhut jolokia, 7 pot/pods (google ’em, hotter than bhut!), sweet banana peppers, hungarian hot wax, etc.
just lemme know what you want. i got too much seeds and i need to unload some. it would be a waste if i didn’t share.