Hulled Corn
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lye
Tie the wood ashes in a strong bag.
In a clean kettle, add a pailful of cold water, the bag of ashes, and the corn.
Gradually heat the water to boiling, then let it boil slowly for several hours.
Occasionally test a few kernels by rubbing them in a bowl of water to check if the hulls are slipping off.
Hull and cook
Once the hulls slip off easily, transfer the corn to a pan of water and rub it between your hands to remove the hulls.
Save a pint of the lye-water from boiling, strain it until clear, and add it back to the washed corn.
Add more fresh water and boil slowly until the corn is tender.
Season with salt to taste before serving.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Fresh corn
- Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender as it cooks in the lye-water.
- Wood ashes
- Release alkali into the water, which loosens the hulls so they slip off the kernels.
The step that matters
Testing the hulls before washing. Boiling too briefly leaves hulls stuck fast, while over-boiling can soften the kernels. Testing a few kernels by rubbing them in water shows when the hulls slip off easily, so the corn is removed at the right point.
“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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