October 2, 2024

milkwoodhernehill

Can't Eat Food

Tired of corn on the cob? Here are 4 corn recipes to use up those sweet kernels

Jose Andres has a soft spot for Irma Rombauer's "Joy of Cooking," including her recipe for corn cakes, which he makes in the summer when fresh corn is in season.

When I was a kid, you knew it was summer when one of my parents dug into the back of the utensil drawer to pull out the corncob-shaped corn holders.

Those bright yellow plastic handles and long metal prongs were the sharpest tools my sister and I were allowed to handle. One could argue that we didn’t really need corn-on-the-cob holders, but this was the ritual, so every time we picked up corn from the grocery store or the Amish-run farmers market, we pulled out those holders.

My grandmother, who lived about a mile away from us in my small Missouri town, also had a set of dachshund corn-on-the-cob holders, but she saved those for special occasions.

Gaga was often present for these summer dinners, when the sound of cicadas was as thick as the humidity, and I can remember sitting on the back porch shucking corn with her or my sister while my parents worked on the rest of the meal in the kitchen. My dad might come outside with a baking dish full of chicken marinating in Italian dressing or pork chops sprinkled with lemon pepper for the grill.