Lye Hominy
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lye bath
Dissolve the lye in 1 gallon of water.
Cook the corn
Shell the white corn and boil until the husks slip off easily.
Drain the corn and boil it in clear water.
Drain again, add more clear water, and cook until soft.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Concentrated lye
- Loosens the corn's hulls and softens the kernels, which is what makes hominy.
- White corn
- Forms the base; its kernels swell and soften during cooking.
The step that matters
Rinsing away the lye. Lye is caustic and stays in the corn if not fully drained and rinsed off, so repeated draining and fresh clear water are needed before the corn is safe to eat.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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