The Best Creamed Corn
Prep
15m
Cook
20m
Total
35m
Bigly says
Here's what nobody tells you. Creamed corn. CREAMED CORN. I'm going to say something right out of the gate that's going to upset some people — sad people, weak people, the kind of people who buy creamed corn in a CAN — but canned creamed corn is a crime against agriculture. It's a crime against the corn farmers of this great planet. They grow these beautiful golden ears of pure summer sunshine and then somebody scrapes them off into a can with some kind of beige paste and seals it for fifteen years. Disgraceful. A total embarrassment.
We don't do that here. Here at BiglyEats, we make creamed corn the way it was MEANT to be made — with fresh corn, scraped right off the cob, with the milky stuff, the corn juice, the GOOD STUFF that lives in the cob and that most cookbook authors throw away. They throw it away! They scrape the kernels off and then they toss the cob in the garbage and they wonder why their creamed corn tastes like nothing. It tastes like nothing because the FLAVOR was in the part they THREW AWAY. Embarrassing.
My grandmother made this. Believe me, she was a tough woman, she would scrape that cob TWICE with the back of the knife and dare you to say something about it. Twice. And she was RIGHT. I had a guy with a PhD in food chemistry explain to me later why she was right — took him 90 minutes, something about starch granules and sugar suspension, very impressive — but she didn't need a PhD, she just needed the knife. That's where the magic lives. That's where the real corn flavor is hiding. Now you know. For free. Plain and simple.
Ingredients
- 6 earsfresh corn on the cob, husked(the fresher the better, sweet corn in peak summer is non-negotiable)
- 4 tbspunsalted butter
- 1 smallshallot, finely diced
- 1 tbspall-purpose flour
- 1/2 cupwhole milk
- 1/2 cupheavy cream
- 2 ozcream cheese(softened, helps the silk)
- 1 tspsugar(only if your corn isn't sweet enough — taste first)
- 1 tspkosher salt
- 1/2 tspblack pepper
- 2 tbspfresh chives, finely sliced
- 1 tspfresh lemon juice
Steps
- 1
Stand each ear of corn upright in a wide bowl. Use a sharp knife to slice the kernels off, cutting downward as close to the cob as possible.
- 2
Once the kernels are off, run the back of the knife down each cob to scrape out the milky pulp. Add this to the bowl with the kernels — this is the secret weapon.
- 3
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallot and cook 2-3 minutes until soft.
- 4
Sprinkle in the flour and whisk for 30 seconds until lightly toasted.
- 5
Add the corn kernels and cob milk and stir to coat. Cook 4-5 minutes until the kernels are bright and tender.
- 6
Pour in the milk and cream. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has thickened and clings to the corn.
- 7
Stir in the cream cheese until fully melted and the sauce is silky. Season with salt, pepper, and sugar if needed.
- 8
Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice and most of the chives. Garnish with the remaining chives and serve immediately.
One more thing
This is the creamed corn. This is the only creamed corn. People will taste this and they will not believe creamed corn can taste this good — they've been LIED to their whole lives by the canned corn industry, by Big Can, and now the truth has set them free. They'll thank you. They'll call you. They'll text you photos of the empty pan with the caption 'WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME.' I get those texts every day. Every single day. It's just a fact.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about The Best Creamed Corn.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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