Skip to main content
Main

Putting Up Green Corn

A method of preserving tender corn by layering with salt and brining, then soaking overnight before serving with butter, sugar, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Putting Up Green Corn

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the corn

  1. Split the corn down each row of grains with a knife.

  2. Cut enough corn from the cobs to fill your stone jar.

Pack and press

  1. Add a handful of salt to the jar.

  2. Layer in eight times as much corn, pressing down firmly.

  3. Continue layering until the jar is full; brine will form naturally.

  4. Place a muslin cloth over the corn, then a board over the cloth.

  5. Weigh the corn down with a heavy stone.

Soak and serve

  1. Soak the corn overnight.

  2. If the corn is too salty, pour off the first water before cooking.

  3. Add a lump of butter, a large spoonful of sugar and cream before serving.

  4. Wash the board and stone in hot water every few weeks to keep them fresh.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,345 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Corn + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,168 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Tender corn
Forms the bulk of the dish and provides its sweet, starchy body.
Common salt
Draws out moisture and preserves the corn while brine forms naturally.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel when served.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the salted corn.
Cream
Adds richness and a softer, creamy texture.

The step that matters

Pressing the corn firmly in layers. Packing the corn tightly and weighting it removes air pockets so the corn stays submerged in its brine; exposed corn can spoil.

“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.

You might also like

Corn FrittersCorn Fritters203 recipesCream of Corn SoupCream of Corn Soup50 recipesGreen Corn SoupGreen Corn Soup46 recipesCornmeal GruelCornmeal Gruel41 recipes