The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

(Nandana) #1

KNIFE SKILLS:


How to Prepare Corn


When    selecting   corn,   look    for ears    that    are tightly shut,
with bright green leaves that show no signs of wilting.

Squeeze the ears, particularly around their tips, to ensure
that the kernels inside are full and juicy. A good ear of
corn should have very little give and feel heavy for its
weight.
Avoid ears of corn that have been preshucked or come
packaged in plastic wrap. Any extra handling or
packaging means that those ears are that much farther
away from their original time of harvest.
The best way to store corn is not at all—don’t buy it
until the day you plan on eating it. If you must store it,
keep it in its husks in the refrigerator’s crisper drawer,
but don’t store it for more than a day, or you’ll have
starchy, flavorless corn on your hands. Instead, for
longer-term storage, remove the kernels and then blanch
them in boiling water for 1 minute, followed by a plunge
into an ice water bath to chill them. Spread the blanched
kernels out on a rimmed baking sheet and place in the
freezer until fully frozen. Put the frozen kernels in a
zipper-lock freezer bag and store them in the freezer for
up to 3 months.
To remove the kernels from an ear of corn, first peel

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