SWEET CORN GALORE
Sweet corn on the cob, off the cob~cornbread~artisan butter~port wines~answer to trivia question from last issue~our new kitchen
On the Cob, Off the Cob
An hour down State Hwy 169 from Minneapolis sits Le Sueur, a trip I made many a time in the 1970s working for the Green Giant Company. Sweet corn was machine-harvested from hundreds of farms near and far from Le Sueur, according to the number of “heat units” measured in each crop on each farm that signaled the exact moment the corn was at its peak of flavor. In rolled farm tractors, out rolled dump trucks to Le Sueur to unload those ears—grown to perfection—on a concrete slab before a bulldozer pushed them onto a conveyor belt and on into the cannery. There I stood awaiting my share of cobs among dozens of like workers. This was one of the jobs I worked there. I was supposed to experience the sweet corn production line, placing one shank after shank of corn into the shucking machine. Each shift lasted 50 minutes of each hour. I didn’t work a whole shift, but, if I did, I’d amass a count of hundreds of shanks and drive myself batty from boredom in the process. I pity the poor souls who did such tedious labor for a whole harvest season. While I loathed the job, to my eternal gratitude I was hooked for life on sweet corn.
I must not be alone. Sweet corn permeates U.S. culture with corn cob pipes, corn-on-the-cob sugar cookies, halloween costumes, corn salt and pepper shakers, corn-on-the-cob plates, corn butter spreaders, corn holders, and sweet corn cutters. It’s not hard to imagine why. Sweet corn is among the extravagant treats from gardens across the U.S. Its season lasts from May through November. While there are scads of recipes for corn on the cob, some recipes for corn off the cob can be more tantalizing. Ruhlman’s Newsletter for September 10 nudged me to recall my early sweet corn fascination, partly because it’s one of my fave food publications and because my love of sweet corn has stuck with me like a husk caught between my teeth. Ruhlman takes a shine to baked corn in the fall, a plain but uncommonly perfect dish of kernels cut off the cob and cooked with butter, salt, and pepper. It dares any attempt to make it more simple or more marvelous, thus creating a kissing cousin to Thomas Keller’s Master Class recipe for perfect French scrambled eggs.
Tools contribute significantly to the elegance of creamed sweet corn dishes. For a rough cut: A knife cuts whole kernels from cobs. For a medium cut: A wooden corn cutter is a handy piece of equipment that cuts as well as shreds kernels. For a fine cut: A box grater allows home cooks to create what amounts to a luscious, creamy corn sauce. The resultant curated flavors of each do make me think of a much reduced stock or even a glaze. All are suitable for Ruhlman’s baked corn or any creamed-corn accompaniment cooked in a frying pan with those same few ingredients.
Food & Wine offers a smorgasbord of fall corn dishes, definitely an ever popular summer produce star along with tomatoes, stone fruits, and berries incorporated into salads, succotash, sides, soups, chowders, puddings, cornbread, relish, and desserts, whether grilled, steamed, or microwaved.
Cornbread
Southern style defines cornbread to me. Who but southern cooks cooked it up in cast iron pans in the first place? In the South, it’s served with peas, beans, greens, ribs, and stews, according to The Spruce Eats, an superb online source of recipes and food information for more than casual home cooks. Dig in to cornbread lore and you’ll discover lots of chat about the wisdom of using eggs, buttermilk, sugar vs. honey vs. cane syrup, butter or bacon grease, include sausage or no, add Mexican cheese or green chilis, use all-purpose flour plus cornmeal or not, or where it’s ever legit to bake it anything other than a cast-iron skillet.
The Seasoned Mom recipe calls for cornbread made with creamed corn. Instead of using oil in this recipe, try substituting with bacon grease. Oh, how Southern! It's a great way to add flavor even if you just use bacon drippings to grease the skillet. Optional add-ins: 1 to 2 chopped jalapeño peppers, 1 cup fresh blueberries, 1 cup shredded cheddar or Pepper Jack cheese, orange zest, or dried cranberries.
Artisan Butter
Ploughgate Creamery in North Bennington, Vermont, makes this special product, flavored with seaweed, Vermont maple syrup, coarse sea salt, and fermented butters. Animal Farm Creamery in Shoreham, Vermont, is another, whose clients include Per Se, The French Laundry and The Inn at Little Washington. Their products are available via Saxelby Cheesemongers, New York City's first all-American cheese shop. Animal Farm butters are rich, fragrant, and change with the seasons. The butter has a butterfat content of 87 percent. By contrast, the minimum butterfat content found in American butters is 80%. Products with butterfat below 80% cannot be labeled "butter," and are often called spreads instead.
Port Wine: Fall, Winter, Spring & Summer
I’m into port wine. Not being able to recall my first taste doesn’t mean I can’t recall my best taste. In 2014, on Christmas, a cold winter’s night, by a blazing fire, with a luscious cheese, and good conversation, I enjoyed a 1985 Graham’s Vintage Port. To try to replicate that evening with the same Graham’s come the holidays this year would set me back $150 for the bottle, but I could do it! Thanks to the internet, I can find it!
1985 Graham's Vintage Port97 points Decanter
“Probably the best wine from a good, ripe though rather variable vintage: still deep at the centre with a thin tawny rim; lovely ripe plummy aromas, open but still brooding with more to reveal; ripe and fleshy on the palate with glorious plum and cherry fruit backed by firm ripe tannins leading to a powerful finish. Ready to drink now and will keep and develop in bottle for another thirty years at least! (RM) (9/2021)”
Port has been around since the 14th century. It is typically made of grapes grown and processed in Portugal, Europe's fourth-largest wine-producing region. Portugal has been exporting its wine to England since the 1700s. Port allowed Great Britain to import wine since it was fortified with alcohol and could make the trip without spoiling. Back then wine had a short shelf life of 30 days. In particular, the Douro Valley of Portugal is the original and current home for the world's finest Port. Port-style fortified wines, which are one quarter brandy, however, are also produced inArgentina, Australia, Canada, France, India, South Africa, Spain, and the United States. While it’s mostly thought of as an sweet after-dinner drink, port has been incorporated into cocktails as early as the 186o’s.
Two excellent and accessible resources for learning all about port are Wine Folly and V is For Vino. And there are numerous guides (Bespoke Unit, Wine Lover Magazine, The International Kitchen, Port Cocktails, and Vine Pair) to port cocktails and recommendations of the top ports to buy.
Chilled white port and tonic as starter cocktail aperitif is new to me. And so are various other cocktails made with whites and tawnies are new to my drinking scene. Full-bodied ruby wine has been drunk at end of a meals forever.
While the world of port is complicated, here’s my take on it. For starters, some 110 grapes can be used to make it. Only 30 are used a fair amount, and 6 are commonly used. Practically all are non-vintage and can be drunk when you buy because they’re bottled and aged for drinking. Port is 3/4 wine, plus 1/4 77% brandy alcohol. There are three principal types and colors of port: 1) pale amber whites; 2) orange-brown or yellowish-brown tawny; 3) and deep red ruby ports. Included among the whites are “standard,” “reserve,” and “single vintage white colheita.” The tawnies are “non-vintage,” “standard,” “reserve,” “10 year,” “20 year,” 30 year,” “40 year,” and “single vintage tawny colheita.” All aged by the producer. Ruby, “non-vintage standard” and non-vintage reserve,” and “late-bottled vintage” port are too. However, “vintage,” “non-vintage crusted,” and “single quinta (vineyard)” are aged for 2 years in barrel, bottled and meant to age for 20 to 40 or more years, thus creating the apex of rich, full-bodied port wine.
Answer to Wine Trivia Question
WINE TRIVIA QUESTION (August 31 issue) How many grapes does it take to make the wine in one 750 ml bottle: 300, 500, 700, 900?
ANSWER 700 grapes are needed to make the wine for one 750 ml bottle.
Our New Kitchen
Pray tell, why should you care about our new kitchen? Well, we’re moving from a condo to a home—all of 1,400 square feet—but its really going to be a palace to my wife and me. Truth be told, we’re kitchen appliance junkies. If you were planning a new kitchen, I’d be curious about what you’d be furnishing it with. Already delivered is a stainless steel, 21-cubic foot, counter-depth, French door Bosch refrigerator. We’re big fans of Bosch. Also in the garage is a Dacor 30-inch, stainless steel, freestanding gas range with 4 burners, and a 5.2 cubic foot oven. I simply can’t wait to stock this new fridge and prepare the first meal on the range. We’re hoping that happens by year’s end!
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I'm a vegetarian, so abalone is out... unfortunately, as tempting as tasting baby artichokes and almond in their native environment sounds, my responsibilities here mean that I'm unable to take any trips at all. You have my good wishes, for whatever they're worth. :)
“Heat units” - I never heard of that before. I used to do farm work as a teen, but I worked for small farmers who sold their produce at farm stands. We would judge ripeness by the dryness and brownness of the silks and feeling the ears to see if the kernels felt full (no peeking allowed, as that would dry out the ears!). In my own garden, I never grow more than 15 or 20 plants, and, unfortunately, the raccoons seem to be better judges of ripeness than me - for the past two times I've grown sweet corn, they raided the corn patch right about the time I was planning to raid it myself. Maybe they're mind readers. :D
Good luck with the move. Enjoy your new kitchen!