Cooking web notes

Grandma’s Fried Corn

Grandma and Melody, around 4 years old

Great pose, Melody!

Melody, my wonderful cousin back in Pickerington, Ohio, was looking for Grandma’s recipe for fried corn and here it is for her and you also.  Have you ever eaten fried corn?  It is good when it is cut fresh off the cob, fried in butter or bacon grease.  That’s not the way Grandma did it though!

It is heavenly when fried like Grandma cooked it!  What made Grandma’s fried corn so great Melody, is that she fried it in lard.  Grandma’s shortening of choice was lard.  She used it when frying and baking as well.  She made her pie crusts and biscuits; all baked goods, using lard which resulted in moist and flaky finished products.  Her fried chicken, fried potatoes and fried corn, all in lard and sooo delicious!

Lard is pig fat and is used in many cuisines today.  It has a wonderful aroma when in the skillet and gives the food a unique taste which is not like pork at all.  It also gives the food great texture and structure. 

Here is the best and surprising thing about lard; it is not bad for you!  It has less saturated (bad fat) fat than butter and more than twice the amount of monosaturated (good fat) than found in butter.  There are no nasty trans fats in it, unless it has been hydrogenated, which is the type of lard found in the grocery store today.   It is hydrogenated today to enable the lard a longer shelf life.  That is the problem.  So, the way to combat that folks is to render your own lard!  I am amazed to read that many cooks do just that.  It is supposedly very easy to do.  

Back to the fried corn now, it is delectable and if it appears on the kitchen table, that’s where I’ll be and Melody also, I bet.  There is nothing that compares to the flavor of fresh corn, shucked, cut off the cob and fried in the skillet.  Canned or frozen corn comes in at a distant second.  When I grew up on the farm, I thought nothing of walking out to the field with Mom and picking the corn for a meal.  Wow!  I’d love to be able to do that now; just go right outside the back door to the corn field ~ pick, shuck and cook!  If you’ve never eaten fried corn, you must try it!  Delectable and I wish I had a plate of it right now!

Grandma’s Fried Corn

Ingredients:

8 ears fresh corn

A smidgeon of sugar

Salt and pepper

Milk or water

Lard

Method:

With a sharp knife, run it down the cob to remove the corn.

Use the back of the knife and scrape the whole ear again to remove the milk.

Add lard to the skillet and heat well.

Add corn, sugar, salt and pepper.

Stir well and often as it can burn easily.

As it gets too thick, add a little milk or water.

Cook about 20-25 minutes. 

Ummm!!!  Good! A meal unto itself!

This entry was posted on Friday, September 16, 2011 at 7:34 AM and is filed under Corn, Grandma's recipes, Side Dish, Vegetables. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response.