Corn on the Cob
An easy way of cooking corn from my 1989 copy of White Trash Cooking (still in print), which echos the rural background of my grandmother, Augusta (Gussie) Dreyer Whitehurst. She grew up in a large family (8 children) who all chipped in to produce most of their food and other needs on their family homestead in Georgia. After marriage, she lived with my grandfather on a farm outside of Dublin, Georgia, and kept a vegetable garden, as well as chickens for eggs and meat.
Ingredients:
3-4 ears of tender corn (white or yellow) in husks
4 quart pot with lid, filled with enough water to cover the corn
a ceramic salad plate of a size just small enough to fit in the pot
When ready to cook, pull husks off corn and clean off tassel silks as much as possible. Snap each corn cob into two pieces for easier serving.
Put corn in water in the pot just to cover the corn, put the ceramic plate on top of the corn pieces (to keep them all under water).
Cover the pot and heat the water to boiling; when the pot comes to a full boil (watch that the water doesn't bubble over), turn off the heat and leave the covered pot on the burner for about 8-12 minutes (or longer, the corn won't get overdone).
When the rest of the meal is ready, remove the plate with tongs and drain the pot, leaving the corn in the pot to keep warm.
Serves 3-4
This is the actual entry from the White Trash Cookbook:
'CORN ON THE COB: Don't shuck your corn until just before you get ready to cook it. Take off the husks, the hairs, and cut off the ends. Rinse it off in fresh water and drop into a big pot of fast boiling water (unsalted). Make sure the water covers all the ears. Wait til your water starts to boil again, then turn off immediately and put on the lid so the flavor won't escape. Now let it sit in the hot water for 5-10 minutes (5 for young corn). Drain it and salt it, butter it and eat it.
Mrs. Johnny Keasler of Ball Ground, Georgia, says: "It's the only way to cook your corn on the cob." '
(putting a plate on top of the corn in the pot is my addition)