# Corn on the cob - best way to cook? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 7, 2005, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450 "2005-07-07T14:03:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450/21 "2005-07-07T15:39:04Z")
In one of the Nero Wolfe books, Rex Stout has his epicurean character condemn housewives who destroy the flavor of corn on the cob by boiling it. (Me, I grew up on boiled corn on the cob). He recommended baking in an oven in the husks. Nowadays you can just put them in the microwave, which ought to avoid the problems of boiling. Corn on the cob’s also great left in the husk (but without the silk) and cooked on an open grill. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450/22 "2005-07-07T17:31:28Z")
So, IOW, there’s a bazillion ways to cook corn on the cob. Okay. If we fire up the grill tonight, which seems less and less likely as the “chef” has been MIA since 11pm last night, I’ll try grilling it. Otherwise I’m going to try the nukerwave. It’s been quite a while since I’ve had corn on the cob, and for once I’m actually anticipating it. When I was 8, I lost my six front teeth on the top and 4 front teeth on the bottom (all baby teeth - yes, I was 8) in a swingset accident. That night, whilst I supped on tomato soup, the rest of my family ate steak and corn on the cob. Ever since then I’ve had a small amount of antipathy against cotc/steak. I know, I _should_ feel that towards my family, but I don’t. Well, except for my sister who waved her cotc in my face and _“Neener neener”_'d me. Brat. [side query] when (collective) you say “husk” the corn, do you mean shuck? As in remove the husk? [/sq] ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450/23 "2005-07-07T18:30:50Z")
> [@cckerberos](#): > > I’ve never cooked it myself, but I believe my mother just boils it. The best corn on the cob I’ve ever had, though, was roasted in a bonfire. I wonder if you could bbq it to get a similar effect. Probably. I always cook mine in the smoker. I buy the ears frozen, without husks, in packs of four. Put them on sheets of aluminum foil with a bit of garlic salt and butter, roll them up, and stick them in the smoker for about four hours. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450/24 "2005-07-07T18:49:32Z")
> [@MissTake](#): > > [side query] when (collective) you say “husk” the corn, do you mean shuck? As in remove the husk? [/sq] Yeah, the words are synonyms. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450/25 "2005-07-07T19:30:49Z")
I’m a 2 minute boiler. I’ll add a bit of sugar if it’s regular supermarket corn. Really good local corn doesn’t need it. That little bit of boiling won’t leech out your flavor, it’s just enough to get it hot. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Punkyova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@The\_Punkyova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Punkyova)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450/26 "2005-07-07T20:55:58Z")
Preheat the oven to 400. Husk the corn, wash it to remove the silk, spray it with butter-flavored Pam and wrap it in foil. Cook for around 20 minutes. Take it out of the foil HOT HOT HOT and slather it with more butter. Salt is optional at this point. Eat. ---
**Author:** ![Tupug\_Anachi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@Tupug\_Anachi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tupug_Anachi)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450/27 "2005-07-07T21:08:31Z")
When I lived up Nawth, and could get farm stand sweetcorn, I would set plain water to boil, drop in the ears, wait five minutes, remove and serve. Down heah it’s really hard to find good sweetcorn that hasn’t been **REFRIGERATED**!!! Folks, that’s what roons the taste of sweetcorn. Never, NEVER refrigerate it. Anyhoo, in order to get corn to taste remotely like good Mid Atlantic bread and butter corn I will sprinkle in some Splenda. I think it works better than sugar to get the right sweetness and has the extra bonus of no calories. ---
**Author:** ![pasunejen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@pasunejen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasunejen)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450/28 "2005-07-07T21:14:16Z")
> [@Madd Maxx](#): > > Steamed alongside crabs (simultaniously) with Old Bay on top. A MD specialty. > > Locally grown Silver Queen corn is my fav, followed by yellow sweet corn. God yes. I cannot wait until I’m back home. That is all. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450/29 "2005-07-07T21:23:35Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > 1. Find a corn field. > 2. Boil a pot of water. No salt, no sugar. > 3. Pick corn. > 4. Peel the husks off as you are running towards the pot of boiling water. Don’t worry about the silk; it will fall off in the water. > 5. Dip corn into water. > 6. Count to 100. > 7. Remove corn from water. > 8. Eat with salt, pepper, butter, cayenne, paprika, cream cheese, cheez whiz, sugar or mayonaise (yes, really. I learned those last six from the amazing corn the Mexican vendors sell on the street around here.) > > Whatever you do, if it’s reasonably fresh corn, don’t allow the water to come back to a boil, and don’t leave it in the water for more than two minutes. If it’s not reasonably fresh corn, make corn bread out of it. Old corn is a waste on the cob. > > Gah! 12 minutes? 20 minutes? Heathens! Corn doesn’t need to be cooked, only warmed! (Of course, I’m in the middle of corn country, so we can get it fresh.) Pretty close to my method, but I boil mine exactly 4 minutes. My wife used to let hers cook for 45 minutes. She always soaked it in milk and sugar because otherwise her corn had no flavor. :eek: Grilling is good, but is more of a hassle so I don’t usually bother unless I’m camping. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450/30 "2005-07-08T02:28:07Z")
The best corn on the cob I ever ate was kind of complicated to cook, but since most of the easy ways have been covered, here’s a new one, which also happens to be the best. Get yourself a big stockpot, 5 gallons at least. You will also need a canoe, a crab pot with bait (half a rotten calf’s head works good) and about 3 cases of beer, plus 20-30 ears of corn and some hungry friends to eat it all. Drive to Nestucca Bay on the Oregon Coast, and paddle the canoe and assorted supplies across the bay to the end of the spit, dropping the crab pot along the way. Fill the stockpot with clean seawater, build a driftwood campfire and put the water on to boil. Drink multiple beers until the water starts to boil, then paddle out to the crab pot, which by now has 2 or 3 fat Dungeness crabs in it. Pull the crabs out and drop the pot again, then paddle back and toss the crabs into the boiling water, along with 8-10 ears of corn, and drink multiple beers waiting for everything to cook. When the crabs turn bright red, pull out the crabs and corn and eat like it is your last meal before the gallows. Repeat until all the corn and beer is gone, or you are too drunk to paddle the canoe anymore. Best corn I ever ate. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450/31 "2005-07-08T03:24:07Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > In one of the Nero Wolfe books, Rex Stout has his epicurean character condemn housewives who destroy the flavor of corn on the cob by boiling it. (Me, I grew up on boiled corn on the cob). He recommended baking in an oven in the husks. Aha! Another Stout fan. The reference is from the appropriately named novella _Murder Is Corny_ (1963). In one scene, Wolfe, the Montenegran genius detective and gargantuan gourmand, is trying to explain to Inspector Cramer of the NYPD why the poor quality of a delivery of corn is a clue to solving a murder. Here’s Wolfe on how fresh the corn must be when delivered from the farm: > [@Nero Wolfe](#): > > It must be nearly mature, but not quite, and it must be picked not more than three hours before it reaches me. (…) Ideally the corn should go straight from the stalk to the oven, but of course that’s impractical for city dwellers. If it’s picked at the right stage of development it is still a treat for the palate after twenty-four hours, or even forty-eight; I have tried it. On the boiling method of cooking corn: > [@Nero Wolfe](#): > > Millions of American women, and some men, commit that outrage every summer day. They are turning a superb treat into mere provender. Shucked and boiled in water, sweet corn is edible and nutritious; roasted in the husk in the hottest possible oven for forty minutes, shucked at the table, and buttered and salted, nothing else, it is ambrosia. No chef’s ingenuity and imagination have ever created a finer dish. American women should themselves be boiled in water." And now I’m hungry! (_Murder Is Corny_ is reprinted in the compilation volume _Trio for Blunt Instruments_.) ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450/32 "2005-07-08T03:45:40Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Gah! 12 minutes? 20 minutes? Heathens! Corn doesn’t need to be cooked, only warmed! (Of course, I’m in the middle of corn country, so we can get it fresh.) Same here. I grew up in corn country, and can’t imagine boiling corn that long. I bring the water to a rolling boil, drop in fresh corn, which stops the water from boiling, and about the time the water comes back to a boil, it’s done. What on earth are you people doing to your poor innocent corn, boiling it that way??? :mad: Grilling’s good too though. Steaming for a few minutes is also great. Microwave?? MICROWAVING CORN??? I can’t handle this thread. ---
**Author:** ![EnderWay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d26b3c/32.png) [@EnderWay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnderWay)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450/33 "2005-07-08T03:52:57Z")
I tried many husked ways, boiled in salt water sugar water milk water Then I saw my favorit cook Emeril … he swears by in the husk! He just dipped them in water, so that as the corn cooks the steam from the water helps cook them. He then put them right in the oven on the rack … IIRC at like 400 deg. for around 10 min. He claims that the corn looses some of its natural sugars to the water if you boil them husked. Once I cooked them that way … Yuummm … I’ll never do it any other way! Ohh so sweet! In the husks on the the grill or in the oven it is IMHO! I served them this way once to a bunch of friends (like 8) and converted them all! ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450/34 "2005-07-08T05:25:08Z")
> [@Dolores Reborn](#): > > Bring water to a boil. I add a few teaspoons of sugar. Add the husked corn, and boil for 20 minutes. Drain the water and add butter and salt to the pot of corn. > > After reading this thread, I’m going to try grilling it soon. **20 minutes?!?!?!?!?** I am tending a rather large plot of sweet corn, looking forward to the first few ears in 7-10 days. I knows my corn. 7 minutes is more like it. If you have to cook 20 minutes, the corn was ruined by a too-long trip from stalk to stove, and can’t be rescued by a long cooking time. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450/35 "2005-07-08T05:42:04Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > 1. Find a corn field. > 2. Boil a pot of water. No salt, no sugar. > 3. Pick corn. > 4. Peel the husks off as you are running towards the pot of boiling water. Don’t worry about the silk; it will fall off in the water. > 5. Dip corn into water. > 6. Count to 100. > 7. Remove corn from water. > 8. Eat with salt, pepper, butter, cayenne, paprika, cream cheese, cheez whiz, sugar or mayonaise (yes, really. I learned those last six from the amazing corn the Mexican vendors sell on the street around here.).) 1. Haul stove down to the corn patch you have nursed all season. 2. Bring a huge pot of water to a boil. 3. Locate just-right ear of corn, lean stalk over, and dip ear into boiling water. 4. Eat it. 5. Repeat. > [@WhyNot](#): > > Whatever you do, if it’s reasonably fresh corn, don’t allow the water to come back to a boil, and don’t leave it in the water for more than two minutes. If it’s not reasonably fresh corn, make corn bread out of it. Old corn is a waste on the cob. > > Gah! 12 minutes? 20 minutes? Heathens! Corn doesn’t need to be cooked, only warmed! (Of course, I’m in the middle of corn country, so we can get it fresh. Haill yeah on corn country. p.s. Garrison Keillor once said that fresh sweet corn is better than sex. He isn’t lying. If you have never had corn that went from stalk to table in less than one hour, you don’t know what you are missing. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450/36 "2005-07-08T05:58:43Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > The best corn on the cob I ever ate was kind of complicated to cook, but since most of the easy ways have been covered, here’s a new one, which also happens to be the best. > > Get yourself a big stockpot, 5 gallons at least. You will also need a canoe, a crab pot with bait (half a rotten calf’s head works good) and about 3 cases of beer, plus 20-30 ears of corn and some hungry friends to eat it all. Drive to Nestucca Bay on the Oregon Coast, and paddle the canoe and assorted supplies across the bay to the end of the spit, dropping the crab pot along the way. Fill the stockpot with clean seawater, build a driftwood campfire and put the water on to boil. Drink multiple beers until the water starts to boil, then paddle out to the crab pot, which by now has 2 or 3 fat Dungeness crabs in it. Pull the crabs out and drop the pot again, then paddle back and toss the crabs into the boiling water, along with 8-10 ears of corn, and drink multiple beers waiting for everything to cook. When the crabs turn bright red, pull out the crabs and corn and eat like it is your last meal before the gallows. > > Repeat until all the corn and beer is gone, or you are too drunk to paddle the canoe anymore. > > Best corn I ever ate. I think you and I could be great friends… ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450/37 "2005-07-08T06:08:05Z")
To all those who wonder, Alton Brown has a [method](http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Season2/Corn/CornTranscript.htm) for preserving corn on the cob: \*If you’re looking for more time, though, you’re going to have to take a cue from food scientists over at the University of Maryland who’ve actually figured out that you can hold corn at it’s peak of flavor for up to 2 weeks if you shuck it and give it 15 minute ice water bath laced with 1 drop of lemon juice and 2 drops, believe it or not, of Clorox bleach. Turns out that the bleach/citrus Mickey lowers the water’s PH just enough to inhibit both microbial and enzymatic action in the corn. Post bath just seal it up in a freezer bag and put it back in the coldest part of your fridge. \* ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450/38 "2005-07-08T06:10:35Z")
To all those who wonder, Alton Brown has a [method](http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Season2/Corn/CornTranscript.htm) for preserving corn on the cob: \*If you’re looking for more time, though, you’re going to have to take a cue from food scientists over at the University of Maryland who’ve actually figured out that you can hold corn at it’s peak of flavor for up to 2 weeks if you shuck it and give it 15 minute ice water bath laced with 1 drop of lemon juice and 2 drops, believe it or not, of Clorox bleach (per gallon of water). Turns out that the bleach/citrus Mickey lowers the water’s PH just enough to inhibit both microbial and enzymatic action in the corn. Post bath just seal it up in a freezer bag and put it back in the coldest part of your fridge. \* ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450/39 "2005-07-08T07:17:03Z")
Peel husks like a banana, leave husks attached but remove silk. Smear with butter and replace husks and wrap in parchment. Bake in slow oven for hour. Voila!! ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450/40 "2005-07-08T08:13:42Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > 1. Peel the husks off as you are running _**(clothed and facing forward)**_ towards the pot of boiling water. Don’t worry about the silk; it will fall off in the water. You have omitted two small but important details, which I have rectified in your quote above. Seriously though, boiled for a short time or wrapped in foil and grilled (thus steamed). If you can swing it, head for Hoopeston, Illinois on Labor Day weekend for the National Sweetcorn Festival. All-you-can-eat free hot buttered sweetcorn all weekend long. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corn-on-the-cob-best-way-to-cook/311450.md?page=3)